6.0 magnitude quake strikes West Papua of Indonesia, no casualty

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 rocked West Papua in easternmost of Indonesia on Friday afternoon, but there were no reports of damage or casualty, the Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, and Health Ministry said in Jakarta.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the quake was s measured at 5.8 magnitude.

The quake occurred at 15:28 p.m. Jakarta time (1128 GMT) with the epicenter at 13 km southeast Manokwari of West Papua and at 23km under sea bed, an official of the agency Fadly Yusuf told Xinhua over phone.

The intensity of the quake was felt at 3 MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) in Manokwari, he said.

Both Yusuf and the head of crisis center of the ministry Rustam Pakaya confirmed that there were no building damaged, and no casualty reported yet.

"It is safe, no damage or destruction," Pakaya told Xinhua by phone.

The agency only issued a tsunami warning when the quake intensity is above 7 magnitude.

Indonesia has just experienced a series of major quakes, including the 7.3 and 7.6 magnitude quakes in West Java and West Sumatra recently that killed more than 1,000 people. And the most recent one was the 6.4 magnitude in Western Java, but no casualty was reported.

Indonesia sits on a vulnerable quake-hit zone so called the Pacific Ring of Fire, where two continental plates, stretching from the Western hemisphere to Japan, meet that often cause seismic and volcanic movements.

Source:Xinhua