A strong undersea earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia on Thursday, briefly triggering a tsunami alert, the country's meteorological and geophysics agency said.Indonesian scientists gave the quake a preliminary magnitude of 6.5. The United States Geological Survey said its initial estimate was a more modest 5.5. Such discrepancies are common in the immediate aftermath of a quake.
There were no immediate reports of damage as a result of the quake 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Sumbawa island, said Muhammad Yusuf, a staffer at Indonesia's meteorological and geophysics agency.
The agency initially said the quake had the potential to cause a tsunami and issued a warning to coastal towns close to the epicenter. It lifted the warning an hour later, saying no waves had hit shorelines.
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