JAKARTA,
Indonesia (AP) - Indonesia's Mount Lokon volcano belched gas and
ash high into the air while a magnitude-5.4 undersea earthquake
rattled Sumatra island on Wednesday, geological officials said.
The two events
were not related, they said. No injuries were reported.
The volcano
in Minahasa district, North Sulawesi island, has been declared
off-limits to visitors since it first showed signs of activity
on Monday, said volcanologist Ajceh Purbawinata.
The 5,180-foot-high
peak, about 1,440 miles northeast of Jakarta, last erupted in
1991, killing a Swiss tourist and causing extensive damage to
surrounding villages.
Lying astride
the ``Ring of Fire'' - a series of volcanoes and fault lines stretching
from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia -
Indonesia has 500 volcanoes, more than any other nation. At least
129 are considered active.
The earthquake
hit Bengkulu town, on the southwest coast of Sumatra, but caused
no casualties, the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.
The quake
hit at 5:35 a.m. local time and was centered 46 miles west of
Bengkulu in the Indian Ocean, the agency said in a statement.
Last June,
a 7.9 quake killed at least 100 people and wrecked hundreds of
buildings and homes in Bengkulu, about 360 miles northwest of
Jakarta. Since then, near-weekly earthquakes have shaken the town.
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