Quake jolts Aceh, no fatalities

Quake jolts Aceh, no fatalities

JAKARTA: An earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale rocked
the western coast of Indonesia's tsunami-hit Aceh province on
Thursday but there were no reports of damage or casualties,
meteorologists said.

The undersea quake occurred at 8:42 a.m. and its epicenter was
33 kilometers under the floor of the sea, some 17 kilometers
southeast of Meulaboh, the main town in West Aceh district, they
said.

The earthquake was strongly felt in Meulaboh, which was
devastated by a 9.3-strong earthquake and tsunami on Dec. 26.

"There are no reports of damage or injuries so far," said a
meteorologist from the National Meteorology and Geophysics Agency
in Jakarta.

The 9.3-magnitude quake off Indonesia's Sumatra island
triggered the Dec. 26 tsunami disaster that left at least 217,000
people dead around the Indian Ocean. Aceh, especially its coasts,
was one of the hardest hit areas. -- AFP