A strong earthquake rattled Indonesia's resort island of Bali on Friday, where thousands of people were gathering for a UN climate change conference. It did not trigger a tsunami warning and there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

 

The underwater tremor had a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 and was centered 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Jember, in East Java province, Indonesia's Meteorological and Geophysics Agency said.

 

It could be felt in nearby Bali, where more than 10,000 people were attending a two-week conference to discuss rising global temperatures, which scientists say could lead to severe droughts and flooding, melting ice caps and rising seas, and the extinction of animals.

 

Delegates from nearly 190 nations were represented.

 

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.

 

(China Daily via Agencies December 8, 2007)