No tsunami threat for Idonesia

2005-04-10 15:53

Los Angeles - A US-run tsunami alert centre said on Sunday there was no threat of massive tidal waves, after a powerful earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale struck off the west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island.

"This earthquake is located outside the Pacific. No tsunami threat exists to coastlines in the Pacific," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu, Hawaii said in a statement on its website.

The centre noted however that "earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a few hundred kilometres to the earthquake epicentre," and urged local authorities to "be aware of this possibility and take appropriate action."

There were no reports of casualties or damage from the quake which hit at 17:29 (10:29 GMT) near Siberut Island, 109 kilometres southwest of the Sumatra town of Painan, according to seismologists.

The tremor comes two weeks after a massive 8.7 earthquake centred on the same Indian Ocean geological fault line killed more than 600 people as scores of concrete buildings collapsed on the Indonesian island of Nias.

- SAPA