8.3-Magnitude Quake Rocks West Sumatra

Tsunami in Aceh

Padang, West Sumatra, 24 Jumadil Awwal 1437/03 March 2016 (MINA) – Indonesia has issued a tsunami warning after a powerful and shallow 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck off the west coast of the island of Sumatra.

The earthquake rocked several parts of West Sumatra province on Wednesday at 07.49 p.m. local time, triggering a tsunami alert for parts of Sumatra, including West Sumatra, North Sumatra and Aceh, the local BMKG quake monitoring agency said.

The epicenter of the quake was located 5.61 degrees southern latitude and 94.05 degrees eastern longitude or 682 kilometers southwest of Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra, at a depth of 10 km, BMKG said.

The quake had the potential to cause a tsunami, the agency said.

Indonesia, badly hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, sits on the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a highly seismically active zone where different plates on the earth’s crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.

The 2004 tsunami killed 200,000 people in Aceh alone. (R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)