Strong, shallow quake strikes Indonesia

A strong and shallow earthquake with a 6.1 magnitude struck central Indonesia Friday, geologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued.

The quake was centred around 18 kilometres (11 miles) deep, just off the coast of Sulawesi island, the US Geological Survey said.

There were no immediate reports of damage and Indonesia's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency (BMKG) said there was no risk of a tsunami. Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on earth.

The archipelago nation lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide and many of the world's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

A series of quakes that struck the island of Lombok this summer killed about 500 people and forced hundreds of thousands into evacuation shelters or tents.

In 2004, a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.3 undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra in western Indonesia killed 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 Indonesians.