The quake was centered 279 kilometres west of Saumlaki inthe Tanimbar islands. There were no initial reports of injuries or damage.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is regularly hitby earthquakes. In 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami killed 226,000 people in 13countries, including 168,000 in Indonesia.
The same day, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake rattled Anchoragecity, the US state of Alaska, causing huge infrastructure damage.-VNA