A strong earthquake struck off the coast of eastern Indonesia on Wednesday, causing panic among residents but no destructive tsunami.<br />The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.9 quake hit 106 kilometers southeast of Amahai, a town on Seram, the biggest island in Maluku province.<br />Marzuki, a hotel employee in Banda Neira on Banda Island, about 2,600 kilometers east of Jakarta, said residents and hotel guests rushed out into the streets in panic.<br />Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
