Strong undersea quake jolts eastern Indonesia

A strong undersea earthquake jolted Indonesia's eastern islands early on Wednesday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

A strong undersea earthquake jolted Indonesia's eastern islands early on Wednesday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to property, officials said.

Measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale, the quake rocked Ternate and nearby islands in North Maluku province at 0132 GMT, said an official at Jakarta's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency.

The quake's epicentre was in the sea, about 228 km northeast of Ternate, North Maluku's provincial capital, and occurred about 72 km beneath the sea bed, according to the official.

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There were no immediate reports of injury or structural damage from the latest earthquake to jolt Indonesia in recent weeks.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago nation, is prone to earthquakes because of its location on an arc of volcanos and oceanic trenches encircling the Pacific Basin.