JAKARTA, March 2 (Xinhuanet) -- A strong undersea earthquake measuring at least 6.8 on the Richter scale rocked Indonesia and northern Australia Wednesday but there were no reports of casualties or damage, meteorologists said.

    They said the quake, centered in the Banda Sea, was unlikely tocause a tsunami like the one which devastated westernmost Aceh province in December.

    The quake, 190 kilometers (117 miles) beneath the sea, occurredat 5:48 p.m. (1048 GMT) with its epicenter in the Banda Sea about 320 kilometers southwest of the town of Tual on Kai Kecil island in the Malukus, formerly known as the "Spice Islands," officials said.

    The strong tremor was centered nearly 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) from the epicenter of the Dec. 26 quake that triggered killer waves in 11 nations, but it rattled nerves in a region thathas been hit by hundreds of aftershocks. Wednesday's quake was notan aftershock.

    The Indonesian meteorology agency said the tremor was felt in the coastal towns of Jayapura, Sorong, Merauke and Manokwari on easternmost Papua province, as well as in Ambon city in Maluku province.

    Residents in the coastal town of Waingapu in East Nusa Tenggaraprovince also experienced earth movements.

    Two consecutive earthquakes measuring 3.7 and 5.0 on the Richter scale shook the resort island of Bali earlier Wednesday.

    About 200,000 people are believed to have died in Indonesia's westernmost Aceh province when a magnitude-9.0 earthquake triggered a tsunami that devastated the coastline in December. Enditem