News Service from House Harris

ASIA: Strong quake, aftershocks hit Sumatra: seismologists

JAKARTA, Nov 23, AFP - A 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia's island of Sumatra late on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake hit at 11:01pm (0301 AEDT Sunday), 164km southwest of Bengkulu, the USGS said.

It was registered at a depth of 26 kilometres, and was followed 10 minutes later by an aftershock with a magnitude of 5.7.

There was another aftershock at 5:05am Sunday (9.05 AEST) of 5.1 magnitude,Indonesia's National Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage and the PacificTsunami Warning Center said there was no threat of a widespread tsunami. However, it said there was a "very small possibility of a local tsunami."

Indonesia was the country worst hit by the earthquake-triggered tsunami in December 2004 that killed more than 200,000 people in 11 nations across Asia, including over 168,000 people in Indonesia's Aceh province alone.

This month, it launched a high-tech tsunami warning system in a bid to prevent a repeat of the tragedy.

The Indonesian archipelago straddles several continental plates in an area known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, where seismic and volcanic activity is recorded on an almost daily basis.

Earlier this month, six people were killed and some 10,000 displaced by a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake which struck Sulawesi island.

AFP jfm=0A