6.1-magnitude earthquake rocks off Indonesia

JAKARTA - A 6.1-magnitude earthquake rocked off Central Sulawesi province in Indonesia on Saturday, but did not trigger giant waves, the country's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency said.

According to Xinhua, the quake happened at 21:43 local time (1443 GMT) with its epicentre at 49 km northwest of Donggala Regency and a depth of 20 km under seabed.

The tremors of the earthquake did not have the potential to trigger a tsunami, the agency said.

However, they led residents of two villages situated in coastal areas of the regency to flee, said Muhammad Fikri, an official of data and information centre of the provincial disaster management and mitigation agency.

"More than 1,000 villagers have fled from the coastal areas for fear of possible aftershocks," he told Xinhua over phone, adding that electricity was cut off after the quake and telecommunication was disturbed. - BERNAMA