Strong earthquake -7.0- strikes Indonesia's main island

Workers gather outside their office buildings following an earthquake in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009. A powerful earthquake with preliminary magnitude of 7.4 caused buildings to sway in Indonesia's capital Wednesday prompting a regional tsunami alert, witnesses and media said. (AP Photo/Irwin Fedriansyah)

By ANTHONY DEUTSCH (AP) – 15 minutes ago

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A powerful underwater earthquake shook southern Indonesia Wednesday, damaging buildings near the epicenter and causing panicked office workers to run onto the streets more than a hundred miles (160 kilometers) away in the capital, Jakarta, witnesses and local media said.

A tsunami alert was issued, but revoked less than an hour later.

The quake struck at 2:55 p.m. (0755GMT) on the southern coast of the main island of Java with a preliminary magnitude of 7.0. It had a depth of around 30 miles (50 kilometers), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said it was powerful enough to cause a local tsunami, but there were no immediate reports of high waves. Less than an hour later it said in a statement that "sea level readings indicate a significant tsunami was not generated" and retracted the alert.

Buildings in Tasikmalaya, one of the towns closest to the epicenter, were damaged, the Detik.com news portal reported.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

In the town of Bandung, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the epicenter, students fled outdoors when their classrooms began shaking violently, student Leslie Lai told The Associated Press. "It was very strong," he said.

The shaking was also strong around 125 miles (200 kilometers) north of the epicenter in the capital, Jakarta, where panicked office workers ran onto the streets.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago, straddles continental plates and is prone to seismic activity along what is known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. A huge quake off western Indonesia caused a powerful tsunami in December 2004 that killed around 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

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