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JAKARTA : An earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale shook the tremor-prone Indonesian town of Palu on the island of Sulawesi Monday, causing panic but no reported casualties or damage, an official said.
Residents fled their homes when the tremor struck, fearing a repeat of the December tsunami that devastated western Indonesia's Sumatra, police in the town told AFP.
The land quake -- the second relatively strong tremor to hit Palu since January -- was centered 49 kilometers (30 miles) south of the city and struck at 11:00 am (0400 GMT) Monday, an official of the Meteorology and Geophysics office in Jakarta said.
Monday's tremor is the latest jolt to hit Sulawesi after a 6.9 Richter scale tremor on Saturday raised sea levels and spread panic among thousands of residents in three towns on the island.
A quake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale struck the town of Palu in January.
Indonesia is regularly jolted by earthquakes, caused by massive friction between tectonic plates shifting deep below the archipelago.
More than 230,000 people are believed to have died in Indonesia alone in the December quake and a tsunami that it unleashed, devastating coastal areas around the Indian Ocean, especially on Sumatra island. - AFP
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