3 earthquakes hit Indonesia, no damage reported

Jakarta, Aug 17: Three undersea earthquakes struck western and eastern Indonesia today, but there were no reports of casualties or damage, the country's meteorological agency said.

There were no tsunami warnings issued.

The first quake struck overnight at 0126 am 2356 IST yesterday south of a strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra, with its epicentre about 275 km (170 miles) south-west of the capital Jakarta.

The Indonesian agency said the quake measured 5.9 on the Richter scale, while the U S Geological Survey said on its Web site the quake was magnitude 5. The other two quakes struck about 8 hours later in the Banda Sea in the far east of Indonesia.

The quakes hit in area around 235 km from the nearest city of Ambon in the Maluku islands.

Indonesia's meteorological agency put the quakes at 5.8 and 6.2 on the Richter scale.

A police officer Muhammad Nur said by telephone no tremors were felt in Ambon.

An official at the Indonesian Red Cross emergency centre also said the three quakes were barely felt and no casualties or damage had been reported.

Indonesia suffers frequent earthquakes, lying on an active seismic belt on part of the so-called Pacific ''Ring of Fire''.

REUTERS >