Two moderate earthquakes hit Indonesian island of Nias
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-14 11:28

Two moderate earthquakes rattled the Indonesian island of Nias on Saturday, the meteorological agency said. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

A 5.0-magnitude quake struck at 5:47 a.m. and was centered 30 kilometers (19 miles) beneath the ocean floor and 63 kilometers (39 miles) northwest of Nias' capital, Gunungsitoli, said Andriana, an official at the agency who goes by only one name.

Twelve hours earlier, an underwater quake of the same magnitude hit the region. That temblor was centered 30 kilometers (19 miles) beneath the ocean floor and 37 kilometers (23 miles) southwest of Gunungsitoli, the meteorological agency said
Neither quake triggered panic on the island, which was rocked by an 8.7-magnitude quake in March that killed about 900 people on Nias and the surrounding area.

Nias is just west of Sumatra island, which has experienced hundreds of earthquakes since a massive tsunami-producing tremor off its coast on December 26, 2004, killed or left missing more than 216,000 people in a dozen countries.

Experts say the fault line that runs along the western coast of Sumatra is unstable and may produce another major temblor soon.