7.2-magnitude earthquake hits Indonesia, no damage reported

Jakarta: A 7.2 magnitude quake rocked Papua, the easternmost province of Indonesia early today, however, there were no reports of damages or casualties, a media report said.
The quake struck at 4.41 am Jakarta time, with the epicentre at 75 km south-east of Papua and the depth at 49 km under land, media quoted an official of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency as saying.

Spokesman of the National Disaster Management Agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said that the tremors triggered panic and forced people to come out of their homes in the quake-hit areas.

Local officials of the agency are monitoring and checking the impact of the quake, he said.

Indonesia is prone to quake as it is positioned in the Ring of Fire, an area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean where a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur frequently.