Strong quake strikes Indonesia's Seram island, no tsunami risk

JAKARTA (Reuters) - A 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit Seram island in Indonesia's eastern Maluku province early on Thursday causing damage to some buildings, but there was no risk of a tsunami, Indonesia's geophysics agency said.

A spokesman for the agency said it was possible buildings in the area could be damaged.

The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.5.

Agus Wibowo, a spokesman for Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency said in Ambon, some 40 km (25 miles) from the epicentre, a university building was slightly damaged and a bridge cracked.

Indonesia, which sits on the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire, is all too familiar with deadly earthquakes and tsunamis. In 2004, a quake off Sumatra island triggered a tsunami across the Indian Ocean that killed 226,000 people in 14 countries, including more than 120,000 in Indonesia.

Palu, on Sulawesi island west of Maluku, was devastated by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake and a powerful tsunami it created in September 2018. More than 4,000 people died there.