Another moderate intensity quake hits Indonesia

New Delhi, Apr 2 (UNI) A day after a moderate earthquake struck the Talaud island in Indonesia, another temblor, measuring 5.4 on the richter scale, occurred off the West coast of Sumatra.

The quake, which hit the region at 1400 hours IST, was epicentred at 02.8 degrees North Latitude and 96.8 degrees East Longtitude and occurred at 0245 hrs IST, the Indian Meteorological department said.

Today's earthquake follows another moderate quake that struck Indonesia yesterday morning. Measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale, the quake struck off the Talaud island in Indonesia at 0245 hrs IST yesterday.

Two U.S. researchers at the California Institute of Technology have earlier warned that the fault that caused one of the most powerful earthquakes in the Sumatran archipelago and a destructive tsunami in December 2004 can still trigger a devastating tremor.

Writing in the US journal 'Science', the two researchers, Richard Briggs and Kerry Sieh of the institute, said analysis of the damage caused in an aftershock that happened in the same area some three months later had indicated chances of large movements south of the December 2004 tremors.

Sieh said in a statement on the basis of the team's studies that this southern part is very likely "about ready to go again" and the incident could devastate the coastal communities of southwestern Sumatra, including the cities of Padang and Bengkulu. ''It could happen tomorrow, or it could happen 30 years from now, but I'd be surprised if it were delayed much beyond that,'' he said.

The December 2004 quake, measuring 8.7 in the Richter, had killed more than 2,000 Indonesians and several other thousands in countries in the Indian ocean in the tsunami that was unleashed in its wake.

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