JAKARTA

The densely populated island of Java was hit on Tuesday afternoon by a strong 6.3-magnitude earthquake, officials said.

The quake struck 120 kilometres southwest of the Central Java town of Cilacap, 24 kilometres below the Earth’s surface, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said.

Cilacap is 690 kilometres west of Bali.

There were no immediate reports of injury or structural damage, but the earthquake caused panic in the area, forcing people to flee their shaking homes.