Indonesia quake sparks tsunami scare

A tsunami warning has been cancelled after a strong undersea earthquake today off central Indonesia's Nusa Tenggara island chain…

A tsunami warning has been cancelled after a strong undersea earthquake today off central Indonesia's Nusa Tenggara island chain.

The quake struck near Sumbawa island at a depth of 11 miles, but there were no reports of casualties or major damage.

"We have cancelled the warning. The quake had no tsunami potential," the head of the head of seismology at Indonesia's meteorological and geophysics agency said.

The United States Geological Survey said the quake was of magnitude 5.5 and at a depth of 31 miles, and was 860 miles east-southeast of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

READ MORE

Earthquakes are frequent in Indonesia; its 17,000 islands sprawl along a belt of intense volcanic and seismic activity, part of what is called the "Pacific Ring of Fire".

A devastating Indian Ocean tsunami triggered by a giant undersea earthquake off Indonesia's Aceh province in December 2004 left hundreds of thousands dead or homeless across the region.