No injuries reported after Indonesia earthquake
A powerful earthquake hit off the coast of western Indonesia last night, prompting officials to briefly issue a tsunami warning.
Panicked residents ran from their homes, some fleeing to high ground by car or motorcycle, but there were no reports of injuries or serious damage.
The US Geological Survey said the magnitude-7.3 quake struck 260 miles off the coast of Aceh province just after midnight. It was centred 18 miles beneath the ocean floor.
People in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh - still deeply traumatised by the 2004 monster quake and tsunami - poured into the streets as sirens blared from local mosques. Some headed to the hills, choking roads with traffic.
"I'm afraid," said Fera, a resident, who skidded off on her motorbike with her two children and her mother.
In the town of Simeulue, patients were evacuated from a hospital.
Officials in several coastal cities, however, had not received any reports about injuries or significant damage.
Nearly two hours after the quake, the local geological agency lifted its tsunami warning.
Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
A giant quake off the country on December 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, half of them in Aceh.
