Indonesia lifts tsunami warning after Sulawesi quake

JAKARTA, Sep 13 (Reuters) Indonesia's meteorological agency lifted its tsunami warning today shortly after a strong undersea earthquake hit southeast of Sulawesi island.

The agency put the quake at 6.4 on the Richter scale and at a depth of 30 km (19 miles).

The earthquake was far away from a severe earthquake and series of aftershocks that struck south Sumatra this week.

Suharjono, an official with the meteorological agency, said a tsunami warning is automatically issued when an undersea quake exceeds a magnitude of 6.2, and that in this particular case, there had been little risk of a tsunami.

The quake was not felt in Bitung, the town in North Sulawesi that was closest to the quake's epicentre, a local police officer told Reuters.

REUTERS SS PM1710