Jakarta, Oct 10 (Xinhua) A powerful quake of magnitude 6.0 on the Richter Scale struck Sumatra Island of Indonesia Wednesday but there was no possibility of a tsunami, the Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.
The quake struck at 07.19 a.m. Jakarta time (00.19 GMT) with its epicentre 82 km southwest of Painan town in West Sumatra province at a depth at 20 km under the sea, an official of the agency, Andi Zulfikar, told Xinhua.
The quake was felt at three to four MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity), a scale that is strong enough to crack buildings, at Padang city, at the capital of the province and at two to three MMI at Muko Muko town in the nearby province of Bengkulu.
Twenty-three people were killed and thousands of buildings were destroyed last month after a 7.9 magnitude quake rocked Bengkulu province. It had the potential to cause a tsunami.
In 2004, over 170,000 people were killed in Aceh province in the northern tip of the island after a tsunami triggered by a powerful quake devastated coastal areas of the province and others countries in Asia.
Indonesia lies in a vulnerable zone called the Pacific Ring of Fire where two continental plates, stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia, meet and cause frequent volcanic movements.