PRESIDENT CAUTIONS W JAVA AUTHORITIES AGAINST POSSIBLE TSUNAMI

Jakarta, Sept. 2 (ANTARA) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has instructed West Java regional authorities to be on guard against the possibility of a tsunami following a 7.3-magnitude earthquake in West Java's southern coast on Wednesday afternoon.

Minister/State Secretary Hatta Radjasa said at the State Palace here he had just received a call from President Yudhoyono asking officials including the governor of West Java and the district head of Tasikmalaya to be on alert.

So far, the central government had not yet received information on conditions in Tasikmalaya following the earthquake.

A powerful earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale shook southwest Tasikmalaya, West Java, on Wednesday at 2.55 pm local time, causing people in places as far Jakarta to rush out of buildings in panic.

The quake's epicenter was located at 8.24 degrees southern latitude, and 107.32 degrees eastern longitude, according to information from the meteorological, climatology, and geophysics (BMKG) office.

The earthquake had the potential to trigger a tsunami, the BMKG chief said.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," the edge of a tectonic plate prone to seismic upheaval.

Around one million Aceh and Nias people were left homeless by a deadly 8.9-magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami which also killed about 170,000 people on December 26, 2004.

On May 27, 2006, an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale jolted Yogyakarta and parts of Central Java and East Java provinces, killing more than 5,000 people.