Strong earthquake shakes eastern Indonesia

There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries and no tsunami alert has been issued.

A deep earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 shook eastern Indonesia on Saturday, sending panicked residents running out of their homes, the Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.

HT Image

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries and no tsunami alert was issued, said Suharjono, an agency spokesman. The tremor struck at a depth of about 100 kilometers (60 miles) in Maluku province, about 2,700 kilometers (1,700 miles) east of the capital, Jakarta.

"The TV, chairs, everything in my house fell down, I saw utility poles shaking," Gulman, a resident of Saumlaki town on the island of Tanimbar, told El-shinta radio.

The US Geological Survey put the quake at a magnitude 6.5.