An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale has rocked Indonesia's Maluku islands this week, triggering a small tsunami that has left three people dead. The Republika Daily quotes Buru deputy district chief Bakri Lumbessy as saying three people have died after waves as high as five metres swept away at least 116 village houses on Tuesday. Most of the village's 1,200 residents had fled to the hills to escape the tsunami. Indonesia's Aceh province was devastated by a tsunami that hit nations around the Indian Ocean after being triggered by a 9.3-magnitude quake off Sumatra island on Boxing Day, 2004. Some 168,000 Acehnese were killed. Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.