By Xinhua
Jakarta : A powerful earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale rattled Indonesia’s west Sumatra province Monday morning, but there have been no reports of injury or damage, officials said.
The quake struck at 9:37 a.m. with epicentre at 157 km southwest of Painan town in West Sumatra province and at 34 km under the seabed, said Ali Imron, an official of the meteorology agency,
“Reports from all districts say that there is no damage or casualty,” he said.
In September 2007, 23 people were killed and thousands of buildings were damaged after a 7.9 magnitude quake, with a potential to trigger a tsunami, rocked Bengkulu province in Sumatra Island.
In 2004, over 170,000 people were killed in Aceh province in the northern tip of Sumatra island after a tsunami triggered by a powerful quake devastated coastal areas of the province and other countries in Asia.
Indonesia is at a vulnerable zone, the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire” where two continental plates stretching from the western hemisphere through Japan and southeast Asia meet, causing frequent earthquakes.