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Indonesia Hit By Small Quake, Tsunami

Officials report an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale rocked Indonesia`s Maluku islands, triggering a small tsunami that killed at least two people and left three missing. The Republika daily quoted Buru island deputy district chief Bakri Lumbessy as saying that the quake left three people dead.

Waves as high as five meters (16.5 feet) swept away at least 116 village houses. Most of the village`s 1,200 residents had fled to the hills to escape the tsunami which resulted from the massive earthquake.

According to local news reports, the quake, which rocked several islands in the eastern Indonesian province of Maluku, also damaged hundreds of homes in five other villages on Buru Island. Maluku province lies at the heart of Indonesia?s "Ring of Fire," where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.