5.3-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Indonesian Island of Sumatra

An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale struck the North Sumatra Province in Indonesia on Tuesday. The Indonesian Agency for Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics (BMKG) said that the epicenter of the earthquake occurred 61 kilometers south of Padang Sidimpuan at a depth of 108 kilometers. So far, there have been no reports of material damage or human losses as a result of the earthquake. Indonesia is regularly exposed to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire where many tectonic plates meet and cause frequent volcanic and seismic activity. In 2004, an earthquake of 9.1 magnitude struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, causing a tsunami that killed 220,000 people. Source: Qatar News Agency