EARTHQUAKE HITS SAUMLAKI, MALUKU

Bandarlampung, June 12 (ANTARA) - An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale hit Saumlaki, Maluku Province, on Thursday evening at 9.29 p.m. Western Indonesian Standard Time (WIB).

The earthquake's epicenter was located at 7.95 degrees southern latitude and 130.72 degrees eastern longitude, at a depth of 30 km below sea level, around 66 km of northwest of Saumlaki, Maluku, according to information of the national meteorological and geophysics office.

The temblor which was 340 km southwest of Tual (Maluku), 518 km northwest of Darwin (Australia), 557 km Southeast of Ambon (Maluku), and 575 km northeast of Dili (Timor Leste), did not have potential to trigger a tsunami.

Last Thursday (June 11), an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale hit Pagaralam, South Sumatra Province, at 7.16 am local time.

The temblor's epicenter was located at 4.99 degrees southern latitude, and 102.86 degrees eastern longitude, around 61 southwest of Bintuhan, Bengkulu, at a depth of 22 km below sea level, Dadang Praman, the Bengkulu meteorological and geophysics office, said.

The earthquake was felt in Bintuhan at the first and second level of MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity), and at II-III MMI in Pagar Alam, and Lahat, South Sumatra.

"The temblor could be felt by local people, but it did not have potential to trigger tsunami," he said.

Meanwhile, in Pagaralam, the temblor caused local inhabitants to be panic stricken and forced them to rush out of their houses in fear of a more powerful aftershock.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," the edge of a tectonic plate prone to seismic upheaval.

In December 2004, a 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit Aceh (northern Sumatra) and Nias Island (North Sumatra Province) and triggered a deadly tsunami which devastated the two affected areas and killed around 200,000 people.