Strong quakes hit off Indonesia's Papua

JAKARTA | www.reuters.com | Wed Jun 16, 2010 12:20am EDT

A series of quakes struck off Indonesia's Papua province on Wednesday within a few minutes of each other, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said, but there were no reports of casualties.

A 6.4 magnitude quake was followed 10 minutes later by a 7.0 magnitude quake, USGS said. A third quake struck a little later, with a magnitude of 6.3.

Indonesia's meteorological agency said the quakes occurred 114 kilometers (70.84 miles) southeast of Biak, in Papua, at a depth of 10 kilometers, and issued a tsunami warning after the second quake.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency's spokesman, Priyadi Kardono, said there were no reports of casualties from the area. Kardono said he was still awaiting updates after the second quake.

BP said that its Tangguh LNG project in Papua was operating normally and was not affected by the quake.

"According to reports, the quakes were felt strongly in Biak, and with the intensity the quakes could cause cracks on the walls of houses and buildings" said Jaya Murjaya, an official at the meteorological agency.

(Reporting by Olivia Rondonuwu and Muklis Ali; Editing by Sara Webb and Sanjeev Miglani)