Earthquake Shakes Bali Amid Climate Conference
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An earthquake on Friday rattled Indonesia's resort island of Bali, where thousands of people were gathering for a U.N. climate change conference. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
The 5.4-magnitude tremor was centered 150 miles southwest of Bali, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site. It struck around 6 miles beneath the ocean floor.
The quake could be felt in Bali, where more than 10,000 people were attending a two-week conference about rising global temperatures, which scientists say could lead to severe droughts and flooding, melting ice caps and rising seas, and the extinction of animals.
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The walls and floors of massive tents set up in a sprawling complex of five-star hotels shook for around 10 seconds, but officials said they did not have any reports of injuries or damage. The quake was not strong enough to trigger a tsunami warning.
Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheavals due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
In December 2004, a massive earthquake struck off Sumatra island, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, including 160,000 people in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.