A tectonic earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale jolted North Maluku at 8:46 p.m. local time on Saturday, ANTARA quoted the meteorology and geophysics agency (BMG) as saying. The epicenter of the quake was located at 1.75 degrees southern latitude and 128.98 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 33 km below the sea level, but had no potential to cause tsunami. But so far there was no immediate report of casualties and material damage from the earthquake which occurred 209 kilometers southeast of Labuha, North Maluku; 227 kilometers northeast of Ambon; 275 kilometers southwest of Sorong in West Papua; 333 kilometers southeast of Ternate.
