JAKARTA, Dec. 9 -- A magnitude 5.7 earthquake jolted North Sulawesi in eastern Indonesia on Tuesday, the Indonesian Agency for Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics said here.

The quake struck at 10:09 a.m. Jakarta time (0309 GMT). The epicenter, with a depth of 10 km under sea bed, was at 130 km northeast of Bitung, North Sulawesi, an official of the agency told Xinhua over phone.

The U.S. Geological Survey earlier put the magnitude at 5.9 with a depth of 36.78 km.

A powerful quake rocked the territory on Nov. 15, triggering a small tsunami and panic.

Indonesia is prone to quakes as it lies on a vulnerable quake hit zone called "the Pacific Ring of Fire."