Panic as intense earth quake hits Indonesia’s Aceh province, Nias island

JAKARTA, Friday (AFP) - A strong quake measuring at least 6.0 on the Richter scale has hit Indonesia, causing panic on Nias island, which was hit by a giant earthquake last month, seismologists said Friday.

The quake struck at 21:07 pm (1407 GMT) Thursday, prompting people to seek higher ground on Nias as they feared a repeat of last year’s tsunami or the carnage caused the March 28 earthquake that killed more than 900.

But there were no reports of casualties or damage from the undersea tremor, centred northwest of the island, about 212 kilometres (131 miles) from the coastal Sumatra town of Meulaboh, said Suhardi of Jakarta’s meteorology agency.

The Hong Kong observatory registered the quake at 6.3 on the Richter scale. According to an AFP correspondent in Nias’ capital, Gunung Sitoli, which bore the brunt last month’s magnitude 8.7 quake, there was brief pandemonium as residents feared the worst.

“Scores of people fled out of their homes and huddled together. Some of them also escaped to the hills on motorcycles,” he said.

Aceh’s coastline was devastated in December when a massive quake triggered tsunamis that spread across the Indian Ocean, killing 128,000 people in Indonesia alone.

The region sits on the so-called Pacific Rim of Fire noted for its volcanic and seismic activity and has been rattled by daily aftershocks since the December disaster.