Strong quake strikes off eastern Indonesia, no tsunami alert issued

A strong quake of 6.2 magnitude struck off Indonesia's eastern province of Maluku on Saturday, but no tsunami alert was issued, the meteorology and geophysics agency said.

The quake had been scaled down to 6.2 magnitude from the initial 6.6 magnitude, Wahyu Kurniawan, an official in charge of the agency, said.

The quake hit at 15:12 p.m. Jakarta time (0812 GMT).

"We have not issued a warning for tsunami so far," he told Xinhua by phone.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)