SUMBA TIMUR JOLTED BY 5.5-MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE

Kupang, July 31 (ANTARA) - A tectonic earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale jolted Sumba Timur district in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) at 8:05 local time on Friday morning.

Information from local Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) said the epicenter of the earthquake was located at 10.2 degrees southern latitude and 118.86 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 70 kilometers under the sea level.

BMG said the quake's epicenter was detected at about 166 kilometers southwest of Sumba Timur district town of Waingapu, but so far there was no immediate report of casualty or material damage.

Diana, a resident of Waingapu said hundreds of people there felt the magnitude of the earthquake and scrambled out of their homes in panic for fear of another aftershock.

The Friday morning earthquake in Sumba Timur is the second after the first one early this month.

Earlier on Thursday morning, the northern part of Central Sulawesi was also rocked by a 5.0 magnitude earthquake but there was no fatality and material damage.

Its epicenter was located located at 1.59 degrees of northern latitude and 121.86 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 30 kilometers under the sea level, or 130 kilometers northeast of Tolitoli town.

It was reported from the Buol district town of Leok that thousands of people there scrambled our of their homes and office buildings in panic for fear of another aftershock as they felt the magnitude of the quake.

Thursday's earthquake in Central Sulawesi occurred three days after a powerful one measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale shook Bengkulu province on Monday, July 27.

The epicenter of the quake which struck at 06.10 a.m. was in the sea 73 km southwest of Bintuhan, Bengkulu, at a depth of 57 km, spokesman for the Bengkulu meteorology, climatology and geophysics office Dadang Pramana said.

The quake was strongly felt by people living as far away as Pagaralam, South Sumatra, where many panic-stricken residents and hotel guests rushed outdoors, an Antara correspondent observed.

Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire", an area of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.