Earthquake shakes Bengkulu

BENGKULU: An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale shook Bengkulu late on Sunday, but no fatalities were reported.

Armin Paimin, the head of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) office in Kepayang, Rejang Lebong regency, some 60 kilometers from Bengkulu city, said that the quake's epicenter was located at the bottom of the Indonesian Ocean 245 kilometers southwest of the province.

"The intensity of the earthquake could be felt around Bengkulu and Rejang Lebong regency at II to III on the Modified Mecalli Intensity Scale," Armin said.

A stronger aftershock jolted the province on June 4, 2002 leaving 94 dead and thousands of homes and public buildings damaged.

In November, a total of 954 aftershocks jolted Bengkulu with the strongest measuring between 4.0 and 5.4 on the Richter scale, Armin said. Meanwhile, from June 2000 to Nov. 2000, the province was jolted by 6,957 tremors although only a few dozen of these were actually felt. --Antara