EARTHQUAKE JOLTS EAST NUSA TENGGARA

Jakarta, Nov. 28 (ANTARA) - An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter Scale jolted Waingapu, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), here on Saturday at 7.04 am Western Indonesian Standard Time (WIB).

The quake's epicenter was located at 10.76 degrees southern latitude and and 118.97 eastern longitude, around 188 km southwest of Waingapu, according to information of the national meteorological, climatology and geophysics office.

Temblor was at a depth of 25 km below sea level, and 255 kilometers southeast of Raba (West Nusa Tenggara), 271 kilometers southwest of Labuhanbajo (NTT), 292 kilometers southwest of Ruteng (NTT), and 304 kilometers southeast of Sumbawa besar (NTB).

Earlier on Nov. 21), an earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted Waingapu.

Indonesia's 17,000 islands are scattered along a belt of volcanic and seismic activity known as the "Pacific Ring of Fire," making the archipelago one of the most quake-prone regions on the planet.

Last Friday (Nov. 27), a moderate earthquake measuring 5,2 on the Richter scale jolted Ambon, Maluku province.

On Thursday (Nov. 26), Indonesia was shaken by two earthquakes respectively, a 5.3-magnitude earthquake which rocked Nabire, Papua province, at 6.33 pm WIB, and 5-magnitude temblor which jolted Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province.

In December 2004, Aceh and Nias Island (North Sumatra Province) were devastated by a 8.9-magnitude earthquake which triggered a subsequent tsunami. The gigantic tsunami killed at least 200,000 people and left around one million homeless.

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