A major earthquake struck in the Banda Sea in eastern Indonesia on Friday but no immediate threat of a tsunami was forecast, U.S. agencies were quoted by Reuters as saying. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.7 and occurred far below the Earth's surface at an estimated depth of 342 km (212 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The location was 275 miles (440 km) northeast of East Timor's capital Dili, the USGS said. Earthquakes frequently take place in that region of Asia, including the stronger quake that caused the tsunami and brought widespread destruction across Asia more than a year ago. No tsunami warning was immediately issued on Friday. "No destructive tsunami threat exists in the Pacific or elsewhere based on historical data and tsunami data," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said in a bulletin. --SP 22 33 Local Time 19 33 GMT
