7.2-magnitude quake jolts eastern Indonesia

JAKARTA - A 7.2-magnitude earthquake jolted Indonesia's eastern North Maluku province on Sunday, but was not potential for tsunami, an official at the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.

The quake struck at 4:10 pm Jakarta time (0910 GMT) with the epicenter 62 km northeast of Labuha in the province at the depth of 10 km, Prio Subandi said.

The jolts of the quake did not have the potential to trigger a tsunami, so they didn't issue a warning for that, Prio Subandi told Xinhua via phone.

Several houses in Halmahera Selatan were destroyed by the quake, but there was no report of casualties, spokesman of national disaster management agency Agus Wibowo said.

"Halmahera Selatan is the worst hit, scores of houses were rattled, but we have not counted the number precisely," he said.

Risk assessment of the impact of the quake is still under way, the spokesman added.

Indonesia is prone to quake as it lies on a vulnerable quake-hit zone so called "the pacific Ring of Fire."