JAKARTA, Aug 7 (Reuters) - A shallow earthquake shook Indonesia's Sumbawa island on Thursday, damaging several hundred houses, but there was no tsunami warning or immediate reports of casualties, officials said. The U.S. Geological Survey put the quake's magnitude at 5.7, while Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency said it was 6.6 on the Richter scale. The epicentre of the quake was 51 km (31.69 miles) northeast of Sumbawa island at a depth of 10 km, according to an official at the Indonesian agency. There were at two aftershocks reported in the area later on Thursday. Slamet Wijoyo, an official at the Indonesian meteorology agency, said 200 houses were severely damaged in a village in the Pekat area on Sumbawa about 40 km from the epicentre. Another official at Indonesia's disaster management centre said 75 houses were damaged in the Sanggar area in Dompu regency. No casualties were reported. Indonesia suffers frequent earthquakes lying in an area of intense seismic activity where several tectonic plates collide. (Reporting by Telly Nathalia, editing by Ed Davies and Sanjeev Miglani)
Indonesian workers prepare their documents before boarding their airplane to Japan at Sukarno-Hatta airport in Jakarta in this August 6, 2008 file photo. Indonesia has sent about 224 medical workers for ...
