A strong earthquake struck off the coast of eastern Indonesia on Wednesday, causing panic among residents but no destructive tsunami.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.9 quake hit 106 kilometers southeast of Amahai, a town on Seram, the biggest island in Maluku province.
Marzuki, a hotel employee in Banda Neira on Banda Island, about 2,600 kilometers east of Jakarta, said residents and hotel guests rushed out into the streets in panic.
Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
