6.2 quake shakes part of west Indonesia, no damage known yet

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A strong and shallow earthquake hit off the coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island on Friday, panicking people in some parts of the island, but no injuries or serious damage were reported immediately.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake measured 6.2 magnitude and struck about 66 kilometers (41 miles) north northwest of Bukittinggi, a hilly town in West Sumatra province. It struck about 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) below the Earth’s surface.

Dwikorita Karnawati, head of Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency, said there was no danger of a tsunami but warned of possible aftershocks.

Television reports showed the strong temblor sending streams of panicked people into the streets in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province, and patients in a hospital at West Pasaman district were being evacuated from the building.

In January last year, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed at least 105 people and injured nearly 6,500 in West Sulawesi province.

Indonesia has a number of seismic faults and is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. A powerful Indian Ocean quake and tsunami in 2004 killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia.