National / World
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Strong Earthquake Jolts off Indonesia
- Sun, Aug 16 2009 05:55:49 PM
IANS/DPA
Jakarta, Aug 16: A strong earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale struck off the western coast of Sumatra Sunday, but there were no immediate reports of injury or damage, the Indonesian seismology agency said.
The quake struck at 2:38 p.m. and was centred in the Indian Ocean, 43 km southwest of Mentawai Islands, Indonesia's National Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.
It occurred 32 km beneath the seabed, but the statement did not say if the quake caused a tsunami threat.
Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago nation, sits along the Pacific Ocean's Ring of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.
A major earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck in December 2004, leaving more than 170,000 people dead or missing in Indonesia's Aceh province and half a million people homeless.