Big quake rocks west coast of Sumatra

Apriadi Gunawan and Sjofiardi Bachyul, The Jakarta Post, Medan/Padang

Another big earthquake rocked western parts of Sumatra island on Saturday, sparking more fear among people in the areas affected. Panicked residents fled their homes and sought refuge on higher ground for fear of another tsunami.

However, no damage or casualties were reported during the quake, which measured 6.9 on the Richter scale, making it one of the biggest since monster earthquakes measuring 9.3 and 8.7 on the Richter scale recently rocked Aceh and Nias respectively.

Saturday's earthquake took place at 12.05 p.m and lasted for five seconds. Its epicenter was located 48 kilometers under the sea near Pini island, between Siberut and Batu Islands, some 50 kilometers northwest of Padang, the capital of West Sumatra, said Joharman, an officer at the Padang Panjang office of the Meteorological and Geophysics Agency (BMG).

The earthquake was felt in several cities in West Sumatra, including Padang and Pariaman. In Padang, people ran out of their homes after the quake. Hospital patients were also taken out of hospitals for fear the buildings would collapse.

The earthquake was also felt in South Nias regency, which was rocked by a monster earthquake on March 28 that killed hundreds of people. People fled to the hills fearing another tsunami, said Herman Laiya, the secretary to the South Nias regency administration's disaster mitigation team.