Earthquake shakes Indonesian province

A strong earthquake rocked parts of North Sulawesi province in north-eastern Indonesia early today, sending sleeping villagers running from their homes, officials and news reports said.

No damage or casualties were immediately reported.

The magnitude-5.2 quake struck at 1.01am (5.01 Irish time yesterday), said Subardjo of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency. It was centred beneath the Maluku Sea, about 87 miles east of Manado, the provincial capital of North Sulawesi, he said.

Many Manado residents ran from their houses in panic, the official Antara news agency reported.

A magnitude-5 quake can damage buildings if it hits a populated area.

It was the second earthquake to strike Indonesia in two days. On Friday, a magnitude-5.4 temblor jolted the tourist island of Bali. No damage or casualties were reported there.

Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelagic nation, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire.”

A magnitude-9 quake near Sumatra Island on Dec. 26 triggered waves that killed more than 173,000 people in 11 countries, most of them in Indonesia.