Powerful quake shakes Indonesia, but no casualties reported

A strong undersea earthquake shook Indonesia's northernmost province of Aceh on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties and officials said there was no threat of a tsunami.

Witnesses said many people ran out of their homes to higher ground when the pre-dawn earthquake struck, but they later received text messages saying there was no danger of a tsunami. A massive quake off the coast of Aceh in 2004 triggered a powerful tsunami that killed around 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

Saturday's magnitude 6.2 quake was centered 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) south-southwest of Meulaboh, a coastal city in Aceh province at a depth of 49 kilometers, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency measured the earthquake at magnitude 6.4. Variations in early measurements are common.

Indonesia is a seismically active archipelago of 270 million people that is frequently struck by disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis.

In February, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed at least 25 people and injured more than 460 in West Sumatra province. In January 2021, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed more than 100 people and injured nearly 6,500 in West Sulawesi province.