Strong earthquake rocks Irian Jaya

JAKARTA: A powerful earthquake rocked parts of eastern Indonesia yesterday but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.

The quake measuring 6 on the Richter scale jolted the towns of Serui and Nabire at around 1:40 a.m., said Aries, an agency official, as quoted by Antara.

He said the quake was centered about 200 kilometers south of Serui on Yapen Island, off the northern coast of Irian Jaya. "The strongest hit was Nabire, but so far we have not received reports of its impact," Aries said.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelagic nation, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," a chain of volcanoes and earthquake zones circles the Pacific Ocean.

A magnitude 5 earthquake is capable of causing considerable damage on populated areas.