Strong quake strikes off western Indonesia

A 6.6-magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia's western province of East Java on Friday, but did not trigger a tsunami, the country's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency said, reported Xinhua.

The quake struck at 16:55 p.m. Jakarta time (0955 GMT), with the epicenter situated 68 km northwest of Tuban district and at a depth of 632 km under the seabed, the agency said.

The tremor did not have the potential to trigger a tsunami, it added.

Daryono, head of the agency's quake and tsunami mitigation division, told Xinhua that the tremors were also felt in the provinces of West Java, Banten and West Nusa Tenggara.

Indonesia, an archipelagic country, sits on a vulnerable quake-hit zone called "the Pacific Ring of Fire."