A 7.0-magnitude earthquake was recorded in the sea north of the main Indonesian island of Java, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said on Friday, with no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The strong quake struck at 4:55 pm local time (0955 GMT), the USGS said, with Indonesia’s geological agency ruling out a tsunami after the epicentre was detected to be at a depth of 594 kilometres (370 miles).
Indonesia experiences frequent quakes due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
Friday’s quake struck roughly 160 kilometres northwest of the city of Surabaya, the country’s second-most populous city that is home to more than two million.
The tremor was felt over a large part of the island of Java, and as far away as the island of Bali.
“In Surabaya, it was barely felt, but some lamps were swaying,” said an AFP reporter on the scene, adding that he felt the tremor “for a while”.
In November, a 5.6-magnitude quake hit West Java province, on the same island, killing 602 people.
Most of the victims of that earthquake were killed when buildings collapsed or in landslides triggered by the tremor.
A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off Sumatra island in Indonesia on April 3, shaking homes of panicked residents but causing no casualties or damage.