Jakarta (ANTARA News) - A 5.6-magnitude earthquake, centered in the Indian Ocean, struck several areas in the southern part of Java Wednesday evening, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).

"The tremor was strongly felt in the southern part of Yogyakarta and Central Java, as well as some areas in the southern part of West Java and East Java," chief of the BNPBs data and information center and public relations service, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said here on Wednesday.

The earthquake was not significant enough to cause a tsunami.

Earlier, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) announced that the epicenter of the 5.6-magnitude earthquake, which struck at 06.45 p.m. local time, was located in the Indian Ocean some 120 km southwest of Bantul district in the special province of Yogyakarta at a depth of 93 km.

Meanwhile, the US Geological Survey (USGS) put the magnitude of the earthquake at 5.9 on the Richter scale at a depth of 95.7 km.

The earthquake was strongly felt in Ciamis, Cilacap, Purworejo, Kebumen, Banyumas, Banjarnegara, Wonosobo, Temanggung, Magelang, Klaten, Boyolali, Wonogiri, Wates, Bantul, Wonosari, Yogyakarta, Pacitan and Trenggalek.

Chief of the BMKG Office in Yogyakarta, Tony Agus Wijaya, said earlier in the day that the trigger for Wednesdays quake, which lasted for 10-15 seconds, was not much different from that in the case of the 5.2-magnitude quake on October 29, caused by the subduction of two continental plates in Yogyakarta.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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