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Moderate earthquakes hit western Indonesia

By Xinhua,

Jakarta : Two earthquakes measuring 5.5 and 5.6 respectively on the Richter scale rocked Sumatra and Java Islands in western Indonesia on Sunday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualty, Indonesian meteorology and disaster management agencies said.

The 5.5 magnitude quake struck at 12:02 Jakata time (0502 GMT) with the epicenter at 94 kilometers to Tasikmalaya town of West Java province on the Java Island and at 10 kilometers under sea bed, an official of meteorology agency, Ali Imron, told Xinhua.

Earlier at 08:16 Jakarta time (0116 GMT), another quake with a magnitude of 5.6 struck at the waters off Bengkulu province on the Sumatra Island with the epicenter at 79 kilometers southeast of Mukomuko town of the province and at 10 kilometers under sea bed, said Imron.

Official of the National Disaster Management Agency Giri Trigondo told Xinhua that both the quakes did not cause any damage or casualty.

Hundreds of people were killed after a tsunami triggered by a 6.8 magnitude quake in the southern coastal areas of West Java in July 2006. The quake caused massive destruction.

A year later, 23 people were killed and thousands of buildings were destroyed when a quake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale rocked Bengkulu province on the Sumatra Island.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where continental plates meet, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

The archipelagic nation was hardest hit by the earthquake-triggered Asian tsunami in December 2004 which killed an estimated 168,000 people in Aceh province.