6.6 magnitude earthquake strikes Indonesia: USGS

Jakarta, Sept 6: An earthquake of 6.6 magnitude struck the northern part of Indonesia's Sumatra island on Tuesday, Sept 6 (Today) as said by the US Geological survey..

The quake struck at around 12:55 am local time at a depth of 52 kilometers and the epicentre of the quake was around 400 kilometers southeast of Banda Aceh, as revealed by USGS.

The quake lasted for around 30 seconds and it was too far from the island to create a tsunami, said the Hawaii based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre.

As Indonesia is located on the Pacific "Ring of fire", the meeting of continental plates causes high seismic activity and Sumatra, as history points out, is more prone to earthquakes.

Earlier, Aceh had suffered from a huge blow when a 9.1 magnitude quake hit Sumatra in December 2004 following a huge tsunami which claimed more than 200,000 lives around the Indian ocean.

Sources said that a 12-year-old boy died in the incident and it caused a huge panic among the localities.

OneIndia News