A 6.0-magnitude earthquake hits North Sumatra, Indonesia

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A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck northern Sumatra, Indonesia, on Monday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) said.

According to the US Geological Survey, the epicenter of the 6.0-magnitude quake was 48 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of Singkil, a coastal area in Aceh province at a depth of 48 kilometers (30 miles).

The Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency issued no tsunami warning.

Earlier on January 10, a strong 7.6-magnitude deep-sea earthquake damaged village buildings on a densely populated island chain in eastern Indonesia early Tuesday and was widely felt in northern Australia.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said two school buildings and 124 homes were damaged in Indonesia’s Tanimbar Islands and areas southwest of Maluku. Only one injury has been reported.

Local residents felt strong tremors for three to five seconds. “There was panic when the earthquake shook, so the residents left their homes,” the agency’s spokesman, Abdul Mahari, said in a statement.

The epicenter of the 7.6-magnitude earthquake was in the Banda Sea, the nearest island of Tanimbar, which has a population of 127,000. The earthquake was felt in several regions, including the provinces of Papua and East Nusa Tenggara, as well as in northern Australia.

Indonesia, an island nation of more than 270 million people, is frequently hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific basin.

(with input from the AP)

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