UPDATE1 -- Strong earthquake hits off Indonesia's Sumatra, no tsunami alert

[News_Editor]

UPDATE1 -- Strong earthquake hits off Indonesia's Sumatra, no tsunami alert

2011-05-29 01:28:43 GMT+7 (ICT)

JAKARTA (BNO NEWS) -- A strong earthquake struck off Southern Sumatra in Indonesia on early Sunday morning, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties and no tsunami alert was issued.

The 6.3-magnitude earthquake at 00.07 a.m. local time (1707 GMT Saturday) was centered about 119 kilometers (74 miles) from Krui in West Lampung Regency of Lampung, located on the southern tip of Sumatra. It struck about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to Indonesia's Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) measured the strength of the earthquake at 5.5 on the Richter scale, far below Indonesia's magnitude. It said around 5.8 million people may have felt light shaking, but the agency said it would not expect damage.

BMKG issued no tsunami alert, saying the earthquake off Southern Sumatra was not strong enough to generate dangerous waves.

Indonesia is on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire', an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent and large earthquakes. Volcanic eruptions also occur frequently in the region.

On December 26, 2004, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded struck off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. The 9.1-magnitude earthquake unleashed a deadly tsunami, striking scores of countries. In all, at least 227,898 people were killed.

Most recently, on October 25, 2010, a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck just off the Mentawai Islands off the western coast of Sumatra. As a result, a wall of water killed at least 435 people on the islands and impacted more than 20 villages.

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