BBC News Online: World: Asia-Pacific

Earthquake shakes Jakarta

There have been no reports so far of casualties or damage, Indonesian police said.

The tremor, which struck at 1411 (0711 GMT), measured 5.6 on the Richter scale and lasted about one minute.

Indonesia's Meteorological and Geophysics Agency said the quake was centred 20 kilometres (14 miles) beneath the Sunda Strait about 180km (110 miles) west of Jakarta.

Evacuation

Thousands of workers were temporarily evacuated from high-rise office buildings.

Police in the towns of Pandeglang and Serang west of Jakarta said the quake had been felt there but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Indonesia is regularly hit by earthquakes. It lies on the so called Ring Of Fire, a circle of volcanic and seismic activity curling around the Pacific Ocean

In June 2000, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake hit Sumatra's Bengkulu province killing more than 100 people.