Quake jolts Aceh and Medan

MEDAN, North Sumatra: A quake measuring 4.6 on the Richter Scale shook Aceh and a part of North Sumatra on Wednesday.

The local office of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) recorded that the tremor was felt in East and Southeast Aceh and the North Sumatra regencies of Karo and Deli Serdang.

Hundreds of employees of government offices and private firms in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, rushed out of their work places in tall buildings after the tremor shook the city.

No casualties, however, were reported as a result of the quake.

The head of the local office of the BMG, Hendra Suwarta, said that the quake lasted for three minutes and warned that it had the potential to cause cracks in homes. --JP