Powerful quake shakes Sumatra

JAKARTA: Thousands of residents were forced to flee their homes in panic as a powerful earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale shook Sumatra island, the National Meteorological and Geophysics Agency (BMG) said on Monday.

No injuries or casualties were reported after the quake late Sunday, which was centered deep below the earth's surface, BMG spokesman Edison Gurning said in a press statement.

He said the quake's epicenter was located about 100 kilometers northwest of Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra province, and occurred at a depth of 600 kilometers.

Tremors were felt in a number of provinces in Sumatra, as well as Jakarta, Edison added. --Antara