Quake off Indonesia's Sumatra triggers panic

JAKARTA-A powerful earthquake struck west of Indonesia's Sumatra island on Monday, triggering panic and a brief tsunami warning, although there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake, which was felt in neighboring Singapore, had a magnitude of 7.3 and was at a depth of 35 km (21.75 miles).Indonesia's meteorology agency, which lifted a tsunami warning after about 45 minutes, put the quake at a shallower depth of 10 km (6 miles)."There are no reports of damages or casualties yet. When the quake happened, people stormed out of the police station. We still need to check with the police station on Muko-Muko (nearest to the epicenter) whether there has been any damage," Hassanudin, a police officer in Bengkulu town, told Reuters."People panicked, but there was no big movement towards higher ground, although there was a tsunami warning."The epicenter of the quake was about 300 km (185 miles) northwest of Bengkulu and around 160 km (100 miles) southwest of Padang.Two strong aftershocks hit the same area hours later, the first measuring 6.7 and the second 6.9, the USGS said. The first aftershock struck 164 km (102 miles) southwest of Padang and was only 35 km (21.7 miles) deep, while the second was 19.9 miles, deep centered 107 miles southwest of Padang.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which monitors the world for tsunamis, said there was no threat of a widespread destructive tsunami form the aftershocks, but added there was a small possibility of a local tsunami.In Padang, patients were evacuated from hospital buildings for safety despite heavy rain, after the first quake.Rustam Pakaya, head of the health ministry's crisis center in Jakarta, also said that no damage had been reported, although the quake was felt strongly in Muko-Muko, Bengkulu, Jambi and Padang.The same area was hit by a more powerful quake of magnitude 8.4 in September last year that killed at least 25 people and toppled thousands of homes.A huge earthquake measuring more than 9 struck off Sumatra on December 26, 2004, causing a massive tsunami and more than 230,000 deaths in countries across the region.Indonesia suffers from frequent earthquakes as it lies in the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire," an area of intense seismic activity where a number of tectonic plates collide.Last Wednesday, a strong quake hit off Aceh province in northern Sumatra, killing at least three people and damaging buildings on the nearby island of Simeulue.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSJAK20328320080225

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