Indonesia's Central Sulawesi city of Palu was hit by an earthquake on Monday morning, according to Indonesia's meteorology agency.

The earthquake with magnitude of 5.7 struck Palu of Central Sulawesi province in eastern part of Indonesia on Monday morning, but no report of damage or casualties, the meteorology agency said. The quake jolted at 07:03 a.m. Jakarta time (0003 GMT) with epicenter at 224 km and at 30 km under land, official of the agency Novita Hendrastuti told Xinhua.

Thousands of residents reportedly ran to the streets with panic, the Antara news agency reported.

Indonesia with over 230 million population sits on a vulnerable quake-hit zone so called the "Pacific Ring of Fire", stretching from western hemisphere to Japan, that cause frequent seismic and volcanic movement.

(Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2009)