Great Earthquakes In Diverse Places
Magnitude 6.5 earthquake shakes Indonesian Sumatra
(AP)
JAKARTA, Indonesia — A magnitude-6.5 undersea earthquake shook the
western shore of Indonesia's Sumatra island on Friday, causing panic
but no immediate reports of casualties or damage, an official said.
The quake struck late at night 74 miles (119 kilometers) southeast of
Pagai Selatan, an island off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesian
Meteorology and Geophysics Agency official Gian Ginanjar said.
The quake struck 6 miles (10 kilometers) beneath the Indian Ocean bed.
There was no tsunami potential, he said.
Edi Firmanto, a resident of the Sumatra coastal town of Bengkulu, said
people fled their homes and rushed to higher ground.
"I woke up when I heard my wife screaming in panic and got out with our
two children and headed up a hill," Firmanto said.
They went home when a village chief announced that the quake had no
tsunami potential.
Indonesia rests on a series of fault lines that make the sprawling
archipelago nation one of the most earthquake-prone.