Thaindian News

JAKARTA (BNO NEWS) — Indonesia on Monday evening briefly issued a tsunami warning for some of its coastlines after a powerful earthquake struck off the western coast of Sumatra.

The 7.2-magnitude earthquake at 9.42 p.m. local time (1442 GMT) was centered just off the Mentawai Islands, about 240 kilometers (149 miles) south of Padang, the capital and largest city of West Sumatra. It struck about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the country’s seismological agency.

The Indonesian agency immediately issued a tsunami warning for nearby coastlines, prompting residents in the region to flee coastlines in fear of a tsunami. An hour later, however, the warning was canceled. A tsunami watch issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center remains in effect.

“A destructive widespread tsunami threat does not exist based on historical earthquake and tsunami data,” the agency said in a bulletin. “However, there is the possibility of a local tsunami that could affect coasts located usually no more than a hundred kilometers from the earthquake epicenter.”

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) measured the strength of the earthquake at 7.5 on the Richter scale, considerably stronger than Indonesia’s estimate.

But both the USGS and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said no severe damage or casualties were expected from the earthquake. “There is a low likelihood of casualties and damage,” the USGS said.

The agency estimated that approximately 11,000 people may have perceived very strong shaking, which could result in moderate to heavy damage. Another 6.5 million people may have felt weak to strong shaking, which would be unlikely to result in damage.

It was not immediately clear if the earthquake had caused any damage or casualties in the region and there were no immediate reports of tsunami activity.

Soon after the initial earthquake, at 10.21 p.m. local time (1521 GMT), a moderate 5.5-magnitude aftershock struck the same area. Seismologists expect aftershocks to continue over the next days, and possibly weeks.

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, Indonesia. The 9.1-magnitude earthquake unleashed a deadly tsunami, striking scores of countries. In all, at least 227,898 people were killed.