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Earthquake Hits Sumatra Today
A powerful earthquake has struck off the Indonesia island of Sumatra, where more than 100 people died in a quake last June.
The tremor hit at 0228 on Wednesday (1928GMT Tuesday) about 400km (250 miles) west of the capital, Jakarta, according to Australian seisomologicals who monitored the tremor.
They put the strenth of the quake at 7.3 on the Richter scale, but Indonesian officials in Jakarta said it was less powerful.
"The quake was felt in Bengkulu and Jakarta, but we haven't received any reports of damage or casualties caused by the quake," said Hamdani, an official with the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency.
He said the epicentre of the quake was under the ocean, 21 km (13 miles) southwest of Bengkulu town, the provincial capital.
He said that the tremor had caused panic in the sparsely populated region, but damage.
Earthquakes regularly hit Indonesia. In June last year, the same area was hit by an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, which left 103 people dead.
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