Strong quake hits West Sumatra, Indonesia, no casualty
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A shallow earthquake with the magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter's Scale rocked West Sumatra province of Indonesia Wednesday morning, but there was no report of damage or fatalities, officials said.
The quake struck at 08:15 a.m. Jakarta time (0115 GMT) with the epicenter at 56 km Siberut of Mentawai island of the province and at a depth of 10 km under sea bed, an official of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency Arief Nursalim told Xinhua over phone.
The intensity of the quake was felt at 2 to 3 MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) at Padang Panjang town of the province and at 1 to 2 MMI in Sibolga of the nearby province of North Sumatra, he said.
Spokesman of Disaster Management Agency Priyadi Kardono told Xinhua over phone from the province that no buildings were destroyed.
"There was no panic as the quake was very light here," spokesman of the provincial administration Nuzul Putra told Xinhua over phone from the province.
According to the agency, it only issues tsunami warning when the quake is more than 7 magnitude.
West Sumatra province has been conducting reconstruction and rehabilitation after it was hit by a 7.6 magnitude quake on Sept. 30. The province has adopted scores of measures to anticipate possible tsunami and quake by building tsunami evacuation shelters and rebuild buildings that could withstand strong quakes.
Indonesia sits on a vulnerable quake-hit zone called the " Pacific Ring of Fire."
