Strong earthquake rocks Indonesia’s Java island

An Indonesian soldier talks on his radio near a mosque that collapsed after a 6.1-magnitude quake rocked Java island, in Banyumas, Indonesia, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014. AP

JAKARTA, Indonesia—A strong undersea earthquake rocked parts of Indonesia’s main Java island on Saturday, causing some damage but there were no reports of casualties.

The 6.1-magnitude quake was centered 41 kilometers (25 miles) south of Kroya, a town near the southern coast of Central Java, with a depth of 83 kilometers (51 miles), the United States Geological Survey said.

The roof of a mosque collapsed in the town of Banyumas and dozens of houses were reported damaged in surrounding areas but there were no injuries.

Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency put the preliminary magnitude at 6.5, but said it had no potential to trigger a tsunami.

The quake was felt across many parts of Central and West Java provinces, causing panic among some residents.

The world’s largest archipelago, Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

A monster temblor off Indonesia’s Aceh shores in 2004 triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries. Most of the deaths were in Aceh.

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