An earthquake shook the Indonesian town of Palu at 17:20 local time (09:20 GMT) Wednesday, but the scale was not immediately known.

Residents in the coastal area were prepared to flee to the hill for fear of stronger aftershocks that might trigger a tsunami, reported the Antara news agency.

On Monday last week, a 6.2-magnitude quake shook the Central Sulawesi capital, forcing thousands of residents to flee to the hill on tsunami fear.

The geophysics agency later told the residents that the tremor was centered beneath the land and was not strong enough to cause a tsunami.

Separately in West Java Province, a 5.2-magnitude quake rocked the towns of Bandung and Garut on Wednesday morning, damaging at least 24 houses. There is no immediate report of casualty.  

(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2005)