6.0-magnitude earthquake strikes off Indonesia, no casualty reported

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 jolted Indonesia's western province of North Sumatra on Saturday morning, and there were no preliminary reports of damages or casualties, authorities said.

The quake hit at 02:28 Jakarta time on Saturday with the epicenter at 15 km northwest of the North Tapanuli district and a depth of 10 km, the country's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

The quake, followed by two tremors with magnitudes of 5.1 and 5.0 respectively, did not have the potential to trigger a tsunami, according to the agency.

So far there were no reports of damages or casualties, including in the hardest-hit areas of the North Tapanuli district, said Agus Wibisono, head of the Search and Rescue Office for the Nias Island of the North Sumatra province.

"We got information from the rescuers in the North Tapanuli district that so far there are no damages or casualties there," he told the news agency via phone.

The tremors were also felt in the nearby province of Aceh.

--IANS

int/shs