Large quake shakes Indonesia

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Irian Jaya, Indonesia, today the US Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

The quake was 52.8km deep and was centred 248km west of Jayapura at 6:41am (local time), the USGS said.

Indonesia's natural disaster agency said the quake was felt strongly in some areas, causing people to panic and flee buildings, but there were no reports of damage or injuries, or any risk of a tsunami.

The quake was centred in a remote and inaccessible part of Irian Jaya, Indonesia's eastern-most province, making gathering information difficult, the disaster agency added.

Indonesia is located inside the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire," a seismically active zone where different plates of the earth's crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.

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