An earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale hit Central Maluku at 2.30 local time on Sunday morning but it caused no damage, a local official said. Maluku's Secretary for Natural Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) Kifly Makanno said here on Sunday that the earthquake whose epicenter was at 2.79 degrees southern latitude and 129.83 degrees eastern longitude, did not cause any damage. He said that the Central Maluku BPBD had contacted 14 sub-district heads whose areas covered 173 villages and hamlets in the Central Maluku district. It found no damage incurred by the earthquake which took place about 81 km to the northern east of Central Maluku district, ANTARA reported. The earthquake which took place about 10 km below the sea surface had no potential to create a tsunami, Kifly said. An earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale hit the district of Halmahera Selatan, North Maluku on Thursday, last week, but no immediate report of casualty or damage. The meteorology and geophysics office said the quake struck at 09.02 local time with epicenter in the sea 10 kilometers deep, 119 kilometers southwest of Halmehera Selatan. North Maluku, which lies at the confluence of three big plates - Pacific, Indo Australia and Eurasia, is prone to quake disasters, volcanologists said.
