KUALA LUMPUR: A strong earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale, occurred at 4am Tuesday (April 25) in southern Sumatra, Indonesia, according to the Malaysian Meteorological Department.
It said, in a statement, that the epicentre of the earthquake was 85km north-west of Siberut, Indonesia, at a depth of 48km.
"Tremors were felt in the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia," it said in its Facebook page.
MetMalaysia added that the quake did not pose a tsunami threat to Malaysia.
It also asked people who felt the tremors to fill in the questionnaire provided at https://forms.gle/ouB7tgmn26DjZ1qX9.
Meanwhile, Indonesia's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency said a tsunami warning was put in place after the quake.
It also revised the quake's magnitude to 6.9 from its initial report of 7.3.
Over 2,000 residents have fled the coastal areas, heading to higher ground in the sub-districts of Siberut Barat (West Siberut) and Siberut Utara (North Siberut) of the Mentawai Islands district, said Amir Ahmari, head of the emergency and logistics unit of the disaster management and mitigation agency in Mentawai district.
"The tremors were strongly felt in the Siberut Barat and Siberut Utara sub-districts. The residents there rushed to higher ground," Ahmari told Xinhua by phone.
The official said that so far, he had not received initial reports of damages or casualties, but the assessment of the risks will be continuously carried out later.
Based on visual observation, so far there were no injuries, casualties and damages after the quake, according to Abdul Muhari, spokesman of the National Disaster Management and Mitigation Agency.
Head of the meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency Dwikorita Karnawati said that the surface of the water had risen by 11cm, adding that the agency forecast the rise would be no more than 0.5m.- Bernama
