2010-09-30 02:48

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A powerful earthquake struck waters off of eastern Indonesia early Thursday and local officials warned it had the potential to trigger a tsunami.

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There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The US Geological Survey said the quake that hit off Papua province had a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 and was centered 13 miles (20 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor.

It rattled the town of Tual on nearby Maluku island, said Fauzi, chief of the Indonesian meteorological and geophysics agency, who had no further reports from the field. Fauzi like many Indonesian uses a single name.

The area closest to the epicenter is a remote, sparsely populated part of the country. It is located some 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) east of the capital, Jakarta. It is closer to the northern Australian city of Darwin, which sits some 560 miles (900 kilometers) to the south.

Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that make the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.