Two earthquakes strike Indonesia

13:42 AEST Tue Apr 26 2005 (taken from National Nine News)

AP - Two moderate earthquakes have rocked opposite ends of the Indonesian archipelago, but there were no reports of damage or causalities, seismologists said.

A 5.4 magnitude quake shook parts of Sulawasi Island in eastern Indonesia at 0100 local time (0400 AEST), Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics agency said.

The temblor was centred under the Maluku sea around 150 kilometres east of the city of Manado.

Around two-and-a-half hours later, a 5.5 temblor struck off the coast of Sumatra Island, about 370 kilometres west-northwest of the city of Padang, the Hong Kong Observatory said. Sumatra is in the far west of the archipelago.

The quakes were felt by some residents on both islands, but there were no reports of damage or casualties as a result of either, the Indonesian agency reported.

Indonesia has had countless earthquakes since a massive tsunami-producing tremor off its coast on December 26. The disaster killed more than 128,000 in Indonesia's Aceh province and more than 50,000 in 11 other countries across the Indian Ocean. Three months later, an earthquake caused extensive damage on Nias island, leaving more than 900 dead.