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)