Strong quake jolts Bali

Strong quake jolts Bali

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): A relatively strong earthquake rocked the
island of Bali on Tuesday morning, scaring hundreds of people
working in multi-storey buildings, but no fatalities were
reported.

"It was the strongest quake I have ever felt. My desk vibrated
wildly for several seconds before I realized what was really
happening. I quickly ran to the emergency exit, and by then all
my colleagues were following me," a worker at the three-storied
Bank Bali building in downtown Denpasar said.

A sense of panic also gripped visitors at one of Bali's
largest shopping malls, Ramayana, not far from the Bank Bali
building. Hundreds of visitors rushed to leave the building as it
started to shake.

"Yes, it was fairly strong. The magnitude was 5.3 on the
Richter scale, and lasted for about seven minutes," Bali
Meteorology and Geophysics Agency head Putu Puja confirmed later
in the afternoon.

Puja revealed that the epicenter of the earthquake was at
longitude 113.7 degrees east and latitude 8.9 degrees south,
about 102 kilometers below sea level, south of the East Java town
of Banyuwangi.

"The quake also rocked several other East Java cities,
including Malang and Jember." (zen)