Earthquake measuring 7.0 magnitude strikes off Indonesia's Sumatra Island, tsunami warning issued

Earthquake in Indonesia: A massive earthquake measuring 7.0 on Richter scale struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, forcing officials to issue tsunami warning on Friday. The 7.4 magnitude quake struck at a shallow depth of about 10 kilometres (six miles) offshore, some 147 kilometres (90 miles) from Sumur, southwest of the capital Jakarta. 

An official of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) said India is safe and people here don’t need to panic. There is no tsunami threat to India following the high intensity earthquake that hit Indonesia on Friday evening, said an official of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS).  

"We had issued a tsunami alert after the earthquake. We have now issued an advisory that there is no tsunami threat to India due to the earthquake," SSC Shenoi, the director of the Hyderabad-based INCOIS. NCS and INCOIS fall under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, told neews agency PTI. 

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, but strong tremors were felt in the capital Jakarta. 

"I was on the 18th floor when the building swayed. It was quite big and lasted for about a minute," Christabelle Adeline whose office is in central Jakarta, told a local news website.

A hotel guest in Jakarta who did not want to be named said she felt the tremors at about 7pm local time. “I ran out of the shower, pulled my dress on and ran down with my passport."