Quake kills three people in Indonesia's Java

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A 6.3-magnitude earthquake rocked East Java Province in western parts of Indonesia earlier Thursday, leaving three people dead and scores of houses damaged, officials said.

The quake did not have potential to cause a tsunami, and was centered at 61 km northeast of Situbondo with a depth of 10 km under the seabed, an official named Muhaimin said.

The jolts hit the Gayam sub-district of Sumenep district the worst, leaving three people dead and scores of houses there and beyond the area destroyed, spokesman of the national disaster management agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho revealed.

"The victims were hit by the debris of collapsing buildings when they were sleeping so that they could not escape," he said in a text message.

Assessment on further downside risks of the natural disaster is underway, Sutopo cited.

Indonesia is prone to quakes as it sits on a quake-affected zone called "the Pacific Ring of Fire." The country suffered a powerful earthquake and tsunami last month on the island of Sulawesi that killed more than 2,000 people.

(Cover photo: An early powerful earthquake and tsunami last month on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia killed more than 2,000 people. /VCG Photo)

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Source(s): Xinhua News Agency