7.7-magnitude quake hits off Indonesian island

October 25, 2010

1 hour, 59 minutes ago

By Ali Kotarumalos, The Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A powerful earthquake hit off western Indonesia late

Monday, briefly triggering a tsunami warning that sent thousands of panicked

residents fleeing to high ground. There were no immediate reports of damage or

injuries.

The 7.7-magnitude temblor struck at a depth of 13 miles (20 kilometres) off

Sumatra island, said the U.S. Geological Survey.

At least five towns in the provinces of Bengkulu and West Sumatra were badly

jolted, officials and witnesses said, as were the nearby Mentawai islands.

" Everyone was running out of their houses, " said Sofyan Alawi, a resident in the

city of Padang, adding that, with loudspeakers from mosques blaring out tsunami

warnings, the roads leading to surrounding hills were quickly jammed with cars

and motorcycles.

" We kept looking back to see if a wave was coming, " said 28-year-old resident

Ade Syahputra.

Areas closest to the epicenter of the 9:42 p.m. (10:42 a.m. EDT, 1442 GMT) quake

were sparsely populated, and there were no immediate reports of damage or

casualties, said Ade , a disaster management agency official.

A 5.0-magnitude aftershock hit less than an hour after the original quake, and

the region remained on alert for more.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic

activity due to its location on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire.

The city of Padang was badly shaken one year ago by a 7.6-magnitude quake that

killed at least 700 people and flattened or severely damaged 180,000 buildings.

That followed the 2004 tsunami off Sumatra's westernmost province of Aceh that

was triggered by a 9.1-magnitude quake and killed 230,000 in a dozen countries,

roughly half in Indonesia.

___

Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini contributed to this report from Jakarta.

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