Ambon, Maluku (ANTARA News) - An earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale jolted Saumlaki, the capital of Maluku Tenggara Barat District, Maluku Province, on Tuesday at 0.09 pm Western Indonesian Standard Time (WIB).

The quake`s epicenter was located at 7.13 degrees southern latitude and 130.29 degrees eastern longitude, around 147 km northwest of Saumlaki, and at a depth of 132 km, Benny Sipolo, the head of the Ambon geophysical station, said here on Tuesday.

The temblor, however, did not have potential to trigger a subsequent tsunami, he said.

On July 27, an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale rocked Saumlaki.

The quake was located at 7,47 degrees southern latitude and 130.41 degrees eastern longitude or 115 km northwest of Saumlaki at a depth of 10 km, Benny Sipolo said.

He said the office was intensively monitoring quakes in the area which was one of the quake-prone areas in which quakes with an intensity of 2-3 on the Richter scale occur almost every day.

Maluku Province is basically prone to tremors and tsunami because its location which is in the melting plot of three major faults, namely the Pacific, Indo-Australia and Eurasia. (F001)

Editor: Ella Syafputri
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