UPDATES THROUGHOUT
By Ainur Rohmah
TUBAN, Indonesia (AA) – A strong earthquake shook the north of Indonesia’s Sumatra island Wednesday morning, causing dozens of buildings to collapse and reportedly killing at least 25 people.
The chief of the disaster management agency in Pidie Jaya Regency in Aceh Province said eight of the fatalities were children.
“The death toll could increase because data keeps entering into the post from some districts,” Puteh Manaf was quoted as saying by acehkita.com six hours after the temblor struck.
National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement that the earthquake of magnitude 6.5 hit at shallow depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles) after 5 a.m.
“The earthquake did not trigger a tsunami,” he said.
Amid the trembling, people rushed out of their homes in panic and strong shocks were felt across Pidie Jaya.
“According to an updated report from the local disaster management agency, there are a few houses and buildings that have collapsed,” Nugroho said.
Said Mulyadi, Pidie Jaya’s vice regent, was earlier quoted by detik.com as saying that evacuation efforts were underway.
Indonesia lies within the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide and cause frequent seismic and volcanic activity.
In June, a magnitude 6.5 tremor damaged buildings in western Sumatra Island, with its shocks reportedly felt in parts of Singapore and peninsular Malaysia to the north.
On Dec. 26, 2004, a magnitude-9.1 earthquake struck the eastern coast of Sumatra, causing a tsunami that killed around 230,000 people as it tore along the coasts of Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
