JAKARTA, Jan 21 (Reuters) - An undersea earthquake has struck eastern Indonesia in the area of the Mollucas islands, although no tsunami warning was issued, the local meteorology agency said on Monday.

The U.S. Geological Survey said in a bulletin on its Web site that the 5.9 magnitude quake struck in the early hours of Monday morning 179 km (111 miles) north west of Ternate in the Mollucas and at a depth of 53 km.

The Indonesian meteorology agency, which put the quake at 6.3 on the Richter scale via a telephone text message, did not issue a tsunami warning.

An official from the local agency said it was still checking on whether there had been any damage or casualties given the remote area where the quake occurred. Indonesia suffers frequent quakes, as it lies on an active seismic belt on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire". (Reporting by Telly Nathalia, Writing by Ed Davies, Editing by Keith Weir)

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