Strong earthquake jolts Indonesia: USGS

Jakarta, July 28: A strong earthquake measuring 7.0 magnitude on the Richter scale jolted Indonesia on Wednesday, media reported.

Several buildings were damaged and one boy went missing after magnitude-7.0 quake struck inland in a mountainous area of Papua in the early hours, almost 250 kilometres west of the province's capital Jayapura at a depth of 52 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.

"The quake was felt very strongly for four seconds," disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho was quoted as saying by Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Indonesia lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

A huge undersea quake in 2004 triggered a tsunami that engulfed Aceh province, on western Sumatra island, killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia and tens of thousands more in other countries with coasts on the Indian Ocean.

OneIndia News