Powerful earthquake jolts Indonesia's Sumatra
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-14 16:18

An earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale has rocked parts of Indonesia's Sumatra island, renewing fears of a tsunami but there are no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The quake prompted residents in Nias island, where about 900 people were killed in a powerful quake on March 28, to run out of their homes in panic, said an AFP reporter in the island's main town Gunung Sitoli.

Rinto Mardiono of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said the quake struck at 12.05 pm (0505 GMT), with its epicenter in the Indian Ocean 50 kilometers (31 miles) northwest of Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province.

"It's a deep earthquake so it won't likely cause a tsunami," Mardiono told AFP.

The police chief in southern Nias, Eli Duha, said hundreds of residents fled to the hills fearing a tsunami.

"Houses did not collapse but they have got shakier," he said.

He said the tremor was likely to be felt strongly in the district of Sibolga in North Sumatra province but would not likely cause major damage. "It may have caused cracks in the buildings," he said.

An official at the Japanese meteorological agency said: "We believe the danger of tsunamis is not big."

"We have put the magnitude at 6.8, which is much smaller than quakes that usually cause large tsunamis," he said.

The deadly March 28 earthquake on Nias island measured 8.7 on the Richter scale and was centred on the same Indian Ocean geological fault line as Saturday's quake.

Indonesia has been shaken by a series of earthquakes since the massive December 26 earthquake that generated tsunamis, killing almost 220,000 people around the Indian Ocean, mostly on Sumatra island.

Indonesia sits on the so-called Pacific Rim of Fire noted for its volcanic and seismic activity.

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