Aftershocks shake Sumatra
2005-01-01 14:11
Jakarta, Indonesia - Several strong earthquakes hit the island of Sumatra Saturday, including an aftershock from last weekend's deadly temblor with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5, officials said.
No new injuries were reported, but frightened residents in the island's south went running into the streets.
The US Geological Survey and the Hong Kong Observatory said the 6.5 aftershock hit at 1:25pm (0625 GMT) and was centred 250km southwest of the devastated provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
Separately, Indonesian officials said a magnitude 4.4 quake was recorded at 8:14am (0114 GMT) about eight kilometres west of Pelabuhan Ratu on the southwestern coast of West Java.
Another quake of magnitude 5 struck at 11:38am (0438 GMT) about 60km south of Bengkulu, on southern Sumatra.
The 6.5 jolt was an aftershock from last weekend's enormous 9.0-magnitude quake that spawned devastating tsunamis that hit 11 countries and killed more than 123 000 people.
"Unfortunately, large aftershocks are common after an earthquake of this size," said Kathleen Gohn, speaking for the Golden, Colorado-based US Geological Survey.
She said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued an information bulletin saying that aftershocks of that magnitude generally do not produce tsunami.
Northwestern Sumatra was the hardest hit area in Sunday's earthquake and tsunami disaster, with about 80 000 people there killed.
- AP