Government authorities on late today issued a tsunami warning after an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale struck the Maluku islands in eastern Indonesia, dpa quoted seismologists as saying. The quake struck at 9:40 pm Jakarta time (1440 GMT) with its epicentre 209 kilometres north-west of Saumlaki in Maluku province. It occured about 165 kilometres beneath the seabed, Indonesia"s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) said. There were no immediately report of tsunami or structural damage from the quake, the latest in a series to jolt Indonesia in recent weeks. On September 30, a powerful 7.6-magnitude quake struck off tyhe western coats fo Sumatra, killing more than 1,100 people and injuring hundreds of others.
