Strong earthquake strikes off Indonesia's Java island

Strong earthquake strikes off Indonesia's Java island

2011-05-17 08:22:35 GMT+7 (ICT)

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

The 6.1-magnitude earthquake at 8.14 a.m. local time (0014 GMT) was centered about 140 kilometers (86 miles) south of Malang, the second-largest city of East Java province on Java island. It struck about 25 kilometers (15.5 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, but the United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimated that some 4.6 million people may have felt light shaking. The USGS measured the strength of the quake at 5.9 on the Richter scale, lower than Indonesia's estimate.

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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