A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia in the early hours today, triggering a brief tsunami alert that was swiftly lifted, according to seismic monitoring organisations.

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The quake struck deep at some 171 kilometres below the surface of the earth in the Banda Sea, the US Geological Survey said. A tsunami alert was initially triggered by the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWMS). However IOTWMS followed up with a second bulletin that said there was "no threat to countries in the Indian Ocean".

The quake's epicentre was located in a sparsely inhabited part of the Banda Sea, 222 kilometres northwest from Indonesia's Tanimbar Islands and 380 kilometres from Ambon, the capital of Maluku province. A similar 6.1 magnitude quake hit close to today's epicentre on 26 February and caused no damage. Indonesia sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismic activity hotspot. It is frequently hit by quakes, most of them harmless.

However the archipelago remains acutely alert to tremors that might trigger tsunamis. In 2004 a devastating tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.3 undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra killed 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia.