Jan 24, 2007, 11:00 GMT
Jakarta - Two moderate earthquakes measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale jolted the eastern Indonesian islands of Maluku on Wednesday, but there were no reports of injuries or damage.
The tremblors struck at 15:40 p.m. (0840 GMT) and 16:34 p.m. (0934 GMT), according to a report on Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics agency (BMG) website. Their epicentres were more than 33 kilometres beneath the Maluku Sea, about 109 kilometres northwest of Maluku's Ternate district.
The islands lie some 2,220 kilometres northeast of Jakarta.
'The quakes were aftershocks from the Manado quake earlier this week, although there's no tsunami threat,' local BMG official Subarjo told the Jakarta-based Elshinta radio station.
'There have been at least 430 aftershocks following that quake,' he said.
On Sunday night, a strong quake measuring at 6.5 on the Richter scale shook Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province, and nearby regions, killing at least two and prompting panicky residents to run out of their homes and from buildings.
Indonesia is located in the Pacific Ocean volcanic belt known as the 'Ring of Fire,' where earthquakes and volcano eruptions are commonplace.
In December 2004, a massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that struck nine Asian and African countries, killing around 177,000 people in Indonesia's Aceh province alone. In July 2005, another quake-triggered tsunami killed more than 600 people along the southern coast of Java.
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