6.1-magnitude quake strikes off Indonesia’s Sumatra island

School students and staff gather in an open area after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck near Mentawai Islands, in South Nias, North Sumatra, Indonesia August 29, 2022 in this screen grab obtained from a social media video. Facebook/Doniman Aro Harefa/via REUTERS

JAKARTA — A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island, the third tremor to rattle the area since early Monday, according to the country’s geophysics agency.

Indonesia’s meteorology and geophysics agency (BMKG) recorded the shallow quake off the Mentawai islands, off Sumatra’s west coast just before 10.30 a.m. and said it did not trigger a tsunami warning.

The agency had earlier recorded a magnitude of 6.4 but revised that to 6.1, a BMKG spokesperson said.

Three consecutive earthquakes struck the area with increasing intensity since the early hours of Monday, with a 5.2-magnitude tremor recorded before dawn, followed by a 5.4-magnitude quake less than an hour later.

The 6.1-magnitude earthquake was felt strongly for several seconds by residents in the Mentawai islands, in the provincial capital of Padang, and in the surrounding mountainous area of Bukitinggi, the disaster agency said in a statement.

Students gather at an open area following an earthquake in Padang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia, August 29, 2022, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Iggoy el Fitra/ via REUTERS

The agency said there were no reports of casualties but there was minor damage to buildings on Siberut island.

Separately, Novriadi, a local disaster official in the Mentawai islands, told Reuters that residents in several villages had been evacuated to higher ground and a local church, school and health facility had been slightly damaged.

The disaster agency urged the public not to panic and warned of the potential for aftershocks.

Padang was struck by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake in 2009 that killed more than 1,100 people, injured many more and caused widespread destruction.

Indonesia straddles the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire”, where different tectonic plates of the Earth’s crust meet and create frequent seismic activity.

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