Moderate quake strikes Indonesia

A shallow 5.9 magnitude quake hit Indonesia's North Sulawesi province just south of the Philippines on Thursday, the geophysics agency said, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

A shallow 5.9 magnitude quake hit Indonesia's North Sulawesi province just south of the Philippines on Thursday, the geophysics agency said, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

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The quake struck at 7:16 pm with its epicentre 49 kilometres northeast of Melonguane, off the coast of Sulawesi Island, Jakarta's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.

It struck at a depth of just 11 kilometres but no tsunami warning was issued. "There is no reported damage from the quake. Usually, a quake under the magnitude of six won't have any impact," Eriadi, police chief of the Talaud Islands which lie north of Sulawesi close to the epicentre, told AFP.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.