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, dpa reported. 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.
