Quake hits Indonesia's Sumatra; no casualty reports

[jase]

JAKARTA, July 5 (Reuters) - A strong earthquake struck Indonesia's Sumatra and islands near it on Tuesday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties, authorities said.

The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude of the quake at 6.7, while Indonesian officials put it at 6.0 on the Richter scale.

The quake hit at 8:52 a.m. (0152 GMT) with the epicentre at a depth of 30km (18.6 miles) in the sea near Nias island, west of the Sumatra mainland.

"At this point, we don't have any damage reported," Fauzi, the head of North Sumatra's Geological and Meteorology Agency, told Reuters, adding that there were also no initial reports of deaths or injuries.

However, El Shinta news radio said the quake caused fresh damage to Gunungsitoli town on Nias. That island and others near it were hit by a more powerful earthquake last March which killed around 1,000 people and damaged tens of thousands of buildings and houses.

The Indian Ocean quake and ensuing tsunami of Dec. 26 had also affected Nias.

Some frightened Gunungsitoli residents rushed to higher ground after Tuesday's quake but there were no reports of casualties, El Shinta added.

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