Strong earthquake strikes off Indonesia’s Java island

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By BNO NEWS

A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 has struck just off the coast of Indonesia’s Java island, with shaking felt widely across the capital Jakarta, seismologists and residents say. Only few details are available but no tsunami warning has been issued.

The earthquake, which struck just after 1:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, was centered in the ocean about 115 kilometers (78 miles) southwest of Sukabumi, or 155 kilometers (96 miles) southwest of the capital Jakarta.

Indonesia’s seismological agency BMKG put the preliminary magnitude of Tuesday’s earthquake at 6.4. Residents said shaking was felt across the capital, but there was no immediate word on damage or casualties.

Indonesia is on the so-called ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’, an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent and large earthquakes.

In December 2004, a magnitude-9.1 tremor, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded, struck off the west coast of Sumatra, unleashing a massive tsunami that struck scores of countries in the region and killed at least 227,898 people.

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