Strong 6.9-magnitude quake rocks Indonesia: seismologists

A strong 6.9-magnitude quake struck off Indonesia's Sulawesi island on Friday but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, the country's geophysics agency said.

A strong 6.9-magnitude quake struck off Indonesia's Sulawesi island on Friday but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, the country's geophysics agency said.

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The epicentre of the quake, which struck at 9:51 am (0621 IST), was located 234 kilometres southeast of Bau Bau
island in southeast Sulawesi province.

It was measured at a depth of 670 kilometres.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said the quake was located too deep to generate a tsunami in the Indian Ocean,
but tremors were felt on islands as far away as Timor.

Dozens of employees at a two-storey television building in the East Timorese capital Dili rushed outside in
panic, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

"I just arrived in my office when I suddenly felt the shaking. It's quite strong. Friends screamed to tell people to
go outside the building," said a man who worked in the building.

The US Geological Survey measured the quake at 6.8-magnitude.

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