The quake`s epicenter located at 2.16 degrees southern latitude, and 128.11 degrees eastern longitude, around 163 km northwest of Ambon city, and at a depth of 10 km below sea level, Head of the Ambon Geophysics Station Benny Sipolo said here on Tuesday.
Sipolo said the temblor did not trigger a subsequent tsunami.
"The quake did not have the potential to cause a tidal wave (tsunami) which often worries the public," he said.
He said his office had always monitored Southeast Maluku such as Saumlaki because the district was quake-prone area with an earthquake measuring 2-3 on the Richter scale happening almost everyday.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.
Maluku province lies at the meeting point of the country`s two main chains of volcanoes.
Sipolo said none of quakes that had affected Maluku had the potential to cause a tsunami. Most of the quakes affecting the province so far were local and shallow, measuring three to four on the Modified Mercally Intensity (MMI).
Quake-prone areas in Maluku include its southeastern parts, Ambon, Seram and Buru Islands.
Earlier on Tuesday (Aug 16), magnitude-6.5 earthquake hit Bengkulu, Sumatra Island, at 4.36 pm WIB.
(Uu,F001/HAJM/H-YH)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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