No casualties reported in quake off Indonesia

JAKARTA - A strong 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia today, but officials said there were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) and Indonesia's national earthquake centre said the quake occurred in the area of Simeulue island, 1,485 km northwest of the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

The USGS put the quake's magnitude at 6.0.

Dailin Wang, an oceanographer at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii, said the quake was not large enough to pose a danger of a tsunami.

"We have received no reports of victims or building damage," police official Ikhwandi told Reuters by telephone from the Simeulue town of Sinabang.

Sutiyono, an official at the national earthquake centre, also said there had been no reports of casualties or damage.

Definitive details on casualties and damage from quakes are not always immediately available in Indonesia due to communications problems.

Simeulue is in Indonesia's Aceh province, badly damaged by a tsunami in December 2004 in which about 170,000 people were killed or reported missing.

Earthquakes occur frequently near Indonesia, which lies on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin known as the "Pacific Ring of Fire".

- REUTERS