Strong earthquake strikes off eastern Indonesia

The US Geological Survey says that a magnitude 7 earthquake has struck near the Maluku Islands in eastern Indonesia. The government there has issued a tsunami warning.

Striking at 2140 local time (1440 GMT) the earthquake measured 7.3 on the Richter scale according to local seismologists. They say that the quakes epicentre is located 209 kilometres north west of Saumlaki in the Maluku province. According to Indonesia's Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency the quake struck 165 kilometres below the seabed. Although there seems to be some conflict regarding the distances as BBC News reports that the US Geological Survey readings say that it struck at a depth of 148 kilometres and 222 kilometres from Saumlaki. There are no reports of tsunami at the moment nor of any structural damage but this earthquake is the latest in a series of earthquakes reported in the region in recent weeks. More than 1,100 people were killed on September 30th when an earthquake that measured 7.6 struck the west coast of Sumatra. Many hundreds were also injured.