An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale shook Tual and Southeast Maluku District, Maluku Province, on Monday at 2.11 am Eastern Indonesian Time (WIT), but claimed no lives, ANTARA reported. The epicenter of the earthquake was located at 5.57 degrees southern latitude, 133.68 degrees eastern longitude, 104 km northeast of Tual, at a depth of 45 km below the sea level, according to information from the Ambon geophysics office here on Monday. The intensity of the earthquake was relatively mild so it`s hardly felt by local residents who were asleep when the earthquake occurred, Rudolf Marthen Waremra, a Tual inhabitant, said. Tual was at the same time hit by strong wind which uprooted a number of trees.
