Strong earthquake strikes off Indonesia's Java island, no damage reported

[News_Editor]

Strong earthquake strikes off Indonesia's Java island, no damage reported

2011-04-26 17:10:45 GMT+7 (ICT)

JAKARTA (BNO NEWS) -- A strong earthquake struck off the Indonesian island of Java on early Tuesday afternoon, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

The 6.3-magnitude earthquake at 1.39 p.m. local time (0639 GMT) was centered about 83 kilometers (51 miles) south-southeast of Tasikmalaya, a city and regency in southeastern West Java. It struck about 24 kilometers (14.9 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to Indonesia's Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the earthquake, which was felt as far away as Jakarta, but many residents in the region fled their homes or place of business. Nearly an hour after the earthquake, at 2.24 p.m. local time (0639 GMT), a moderate 5.0-magnitude aftershock rattled the region.

The tremor comes just a day after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck about 75 kilometers (46 miles) south-southeast of Kendari, the capital of Indonesia's South East Sulawesi province. It caused damage to houses, but there were no reports of casualties.

Indonesia is on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire', an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent and large earthquakes. Volcanic eruptions also occur frequently in the region.

On December 26, 2004, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded struck off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. The 9.1-magnitude earthquake unleashed a deadly tsunami, striking scores of countries. In all, at least 227,898 people were killed.

Most recently, on October 25, 2010, a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck just off the Mentawai Islands off the western coast of Sumatra. As a result, a wall of water killed at least 435 people on the islands and impacted more than 20 villages.

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