Tsunami warning after East Timor earthquake

A tsunami warning was issued today after an earthquake of 6.3 on the Richter scale shook East Timor.

The US Geological Survey said there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The undersea tremor struck about 262km north east of the capital, Dili, the agency said, and had a depth of 164km.

Indonesia's Meteorological and Geophysics Agency said the earthquake, in the Banda Sea, was powerful enough to generate a tsunami, but there were no immediate reports of large waves.

Residents in Dili did not feel any shaking.

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony which became Asia’s youngest country after breaking away from Indonesia in 1999, sits along a series of fault lines and volcanos known as the Pacific Ring of Fire.

In December 2004, a massive earthquake struck off Sumatra and triggered a tsunami which killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, including 160,000 people in Indonesia’s westernmost province of Aceh.