JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A shallow earthquake rattled Indonesia's eastern Sumbawa island early Thursday, causing damage and sending frightened residents running from their homes, officials and news reports said.
The magnitude 5.7 quake struck at 6:41 a.m. just off the coast of Sumbawa island, about 620 miles east of the capital, Jakarta, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was relatively shallow with a depth of six miles.
MetroTV reported that several buildings and a school were damaged and people fled their homes fearing they would collapse. The jolt did not appear to trigger a tsunami.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, officials said.
Indonesia, which straddles a series of active fault lines, is prone to seismic and volcanic activity. A giant earthquake along the same coast spawned the large tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a number of countries in December 2004.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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