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People gather in a temporary shelter following an earthquake off Mentawai Islands, at Muara Sikabaluan village in Siberut Utara, West Sumatra province on Sept 11, 2022. - AFP
MEDAN (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): Residents in Mentawai Islands in West Sumatra returned home by Tuesday (April 25) afternoon after a 6.9 magnitude earthquake earlier in the day.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency reported that the earthquake hit at 3am on Tuesday, with the epicentre located 17km northwest of Mentawai Islands at a depth of 23km, triggering a tsunami warning.
South Nias Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) official Epaproditus Dachi said local residents evacuated themselves following the warning, which was also spread through WhatsApp messages.
“They have now returned home,” Dachi told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday afternoon.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBN) reported there were power outages in some parts of the Mentawai Islands that were closest to the epicentre.
Several aftershocks were recorded and a tide gauge at Tana Bala island recorded an 11-cm rise in water levels after the main quake.
The quake was also felt in North Sumatra, with one house reported collapsing in Angkola Muaratais district in South Tapanuli.
Indonesia experiences frequent earthquakes because it straddles the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismically active zone where different plates of the earth's crust meet Padang and West Sumatra province were struck by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in 2009 that killed more than 1,100 people, injured many more and caused widespread destruction.