Magnitude 6.3 Earthquake Strikes Off Indonesia's Sumatra Island

A powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia’s Sumatra island on Thursday, shaking areas near Aceh province, according to the country’s geophysics agency.

The quake, which occurred at a shallow

depth of 10 kilometres, prompted brief panic among residents but caused no tsunami threat, Reuters reported.

No damage or casualties were reported.

Indonesia, located along the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire,” frequently experiences earthquakes of varying intensity.

A day earlier, it was reported that dozens of people were buried under landslides or swept away after torrential rains unleashed flash floods and triggered landslides on Sumatra island

The death toll due to the calamity increased to 23 and left more than two dozen people missing.

Rescue teams were struggling to reach affected areas in 11 cities and districts of North Sumatra province after the monsoon rains over the past week caused rivers to burst their banks, tearing through hilly villages as mud.

Rocks and trees tumbled down, leaving destruction in their wake, as mudslides that covered much of the area, blackouts and lack of telecommunications were hampering the search efforts, the National Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement.

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