Strong and shallow earthquakes shook western Indonesia and the Philippines' main island early Monday, rattling buildings and sending panicked residents fleeing, but causing no casualties or damage.

In Indonesia, a 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit off the west coast of Sumatra island and in the Philippines, a 6.4-magnitude tremor struck 110 kilometres (68 miles) off Luzon island, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.

Officials in both countries said there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, and there was no tsunami threat from either quake.

The one off Indonesia hit at 4:06 am (2109 GMT) at a depth of 21 kilometres (13 miles), with its epicentre 167 kilometres west of Sumatra's Pariaman city.

"The earthquake was strongly felt for one minute. Residents got panicked due to the geological activity," said Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) in a statement.

It was felt most strongly on North Sumatra's Nias and Hibala islands, which are not densely populated and where people often live in wooden houses.

Zagoto, a 50-year-old resident of South Nias who like most Indonesians goes by one name, said he rushed outside with his family when the earthquake hit the coastal area.

"I was in deep sleep but the earthquake made me wide awake, it was so strong," Zagoto told AFP.

The Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BKMG) said the initial tremor was followed by a series of strong aftershocks.

In the Philippines, the offshore quake hit at 5:05 am (2105 GMT), with residents in the capital Manila woken by their buildings shaking.

But the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said damage was not expected.

"It's strong and it's shaking as if it's dancing sideways," said Lieutenant Aristotle Calayag, acting police chief of the Philippine town of Lubang in Occidental Mindoro, an island off Luzon.

Indonesia and the Philippines sit on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", causing them to experience frequent earthquakes.

Last month, a 6.2-magnitude quake killed a dozen people when it struck Indonesia's North Sumatra, collapsing houses and a mosque.

In 2004, a 9.1-magnitude quake hit the coast of Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 people throughout the region, including about 170,000 in Indonesia.

Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
When the Earth Quakes
A world of storm and tempest

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Earthquake fracture energy relates to how a quake stops
Ithaca NY (SPX) Mar 09, 2022
By examining earthquake models from a fresh perspective, Cornell University engineers now show that the earthquake fracture energy - once thought to relate to how faults in the Earth's crust weaken - is related to how quakes stop. This modeling revelation could help science inch closer to making accurate earthquake forecasts. "We realized that observations we thought were related to how faults weaken are actually data related to how an earthquake stops," said Greg McLaskey, assistant profess ... read more