Two moderate earthquakes on Saturday struck Indonesia's Aceh province, site of a quake-triggered tsunami in 2004, but there were no reports of injuries or damage, dpa reported. The US Geological Survey (USGS) said that the temblors measured 6.1 and 6.0 on the Richter scale, but Indonesia's National Meteorology and Geophysics Agency noted that they were 5.9 and 5.8. The first offshore quake struck at 12:32 pm (0532 GMT) followed by another one five minutes later. The quakes occurred some 284 kilometres south of Banda Aceh, and 35 kilometres beneath the seabed, according to the USGS website. Aceh lies at the northern tip of Sumatra province, around 2,100 kilometres north-east of Jakarta. Authorities did not issue a tsunami warning for Saturday's quake because it fell short of the 6.5-magnitude minimum, Sutiono, an official with Indonesia's National Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, said. Indonesia is located in the Pacific volcanic belt known as the "Ring of Fire," where earthquakes and volcano eruptions are common.
