JAKARTA: A 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck the waters of the Molucca Sea between Indonesia's North Sulawesi and the North Molucca Islands, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The quake struck at 9:05 am (0105 GMT) about 116 kilometres east of the city of Bitung at a depth of about 48 kilometres.
Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) initially reported the earthquake's magnitude at 5.8 as well.
Indonesia sits on a tectonic zone with intense seismic and volcanic activity known as the Pacific Ring of Fire.
On December 26, 2004, a magnitude-9.1 earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered a devastating tsunami which struck Indian Ocean countries including Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India and even reached Africa. Over 230,000 people died. - dpa
