6.8-magnitude quake hits Indonesia, no tsunami alert

An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale jolted Indonesia's North Maluku province on Thursday, but did not trigger a tsunami alert, the meteorology and geophysics agency said.

The agency initially issued the quake at 7.1 magnitude before revising it down to 6.8, Wahyu Kurniawan, official in charge at the agency, told Xinhua news agency.

The quake jolted at 3.49 p.m. with the epicentre at 89 km northwest Daruba village of Pulau Marotai district and the depth at 112 km under sea bed, the official said.

"For this quake, we did not issue a tsunami warning," he added.

Indonesia is frequently hit by earthquakes as it sits on a vulnerable quake-impacted zone called "the Pacific Ring of Fire".

( With inputs from IANS )