6.1-magnitude quake rocks Maluku island of Indonesia, no casualties

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 struck off Maluku island in eastern parts of Indonesia on Friday, but it has no potential for tsunami and there was no initial report of damage or fatalities, officials said Friday.

The quake jolted at 09:14 a.m. Jakarta time (0214 GMT) with epicenter 192 km northwest Saumlaki town of Maluku and with the depth 159 kilometers under sea bed, Subagio an official of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency told Xinhua by phone.

Spokesman of the national Disaster and Mitigation Maanagement agency Nelis Zuliasri confirmned Xinhua that there was no immediate report of building damaged or those injured. "The epicenter of the uake was very deep," she said.

The USGS reported that the quake magnitude was weaker at 5.8 Ritcher scale.

Indonesia, an archipelago country with over 17,500 islands and about 438 million population, sits on a vulnerable quake-hit zone so called the "Pacific Ring of Fire", where two continental plates meet that cause frequent seismic and volcanic movement.

Source: Xinhua