An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5 on the Richter scale rocked the city of Malang in east Java Province in Monday night, a local official said on Tuesday.

The tremor which was centered 61 km south of Malang was also felt by residents in Lumajang District, east of Surabaya, the provincial capital city, local meteorological and geophysics agency head Hariyanto said.

There was no immediate report on casualties or damage.

The official said the quake was epicentered at 8.52 degree south latitude and 112.67 degree east longitude.

This is the latest one following a series of earthquakes in this country in the past months including the powerful one that jolted Aceh on Dec. 26, last year, which caused tsunami waves killing some 200,000 people in Aceh and North Sumatra provinces.
 
(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2005)