LOMBOK PEOPLE STARTLED BY 6.6 EARTHQUAKE IN BALI

Jakarta Forum - Mataram, People in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), were startled by an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale in Bali early Friday morning.

Selaparang Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) spokesman Joko Raharjo said the epicenter of the quake which struck at 01.43 a.m. local time was in the sea about 210 km southwest of Nusa Dua at a depth of 10 km, or at 10,11 degrees southern latitude and 113,85 degrees eastern longitude but it did not have a potential to trigger a tsunami.

The temblor was strongly felt by people living in a number of areas including including Karangkates, Denpasar, Badung, Tabanan in Bali, and Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

People in Mataram admitted to have been startled by the magnitude of the earthquake and then scrambled out of their houses in panic for fear of aftershocks.

Indonesia`s 17,000 islands are scattered along a belt of volcanic and seismic activity known as the Pacific "Ring of Fire", and that the area is one of the most quake-prone places on earth.

On Wednesday, February 10, 2010, an undersea earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale rocked the southern part of Central Java but it did not trigger a tsunami warning.

The quake which occurred at 01.33 p.m. was centered 172 km southeast of Wonosari town in Yogyakarta province at a depth of 30 km, spokesman for the Cilacap Meteorology Station Teguh Wardoyo said.

He said the quake was not felt by people living in the southwestern part of Central Java.

By 02.00 p.m. no Cilacap resident had contacted the meteorology station to ask for confirmation on the quake, he said.

"Normally if a quake with a magnitude of more than 5 on the Richter scale happens with its epicenter located near Wonosari a number of Cilacap resident contact us," he said.

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