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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 3:08 p.m., Saturday, March 15, 2008

No damage reported after 6.2 quake off Indonesia

Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A strong earthquake struck nearly 200 miles off western Indonesia late Saturday. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

The magnitude-6.2 quake was centered 190 miles southwest of Banda Aceh on the island of Sumatra, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheavals due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

In December 2004, a massive earthquake off Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, including 160,000 people in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.