Magnitude 6.2 quake hits Indonesia's Sumatra island, tremors felt in S'pore
JAKARTA - A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck near the western coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island on Friday (Feb 25) at a depth of 10km, the country's geophysics agency BMKG said.
The earthquake's epicentre was on land and had no tsunami potential, the agency said via a message on Twitter.
Tremors were felt in Singapore as well, including in Chai Chee (near Bedok), Hougang, Punggol and Sengkang.
Ms Lynn Chua, 44, was having her breakfast in her Hougang flat on the 10th floor when she felt her dining table start shaking at around 9.45am.
She felt giddy and quickly grabbed the sides of her table.
Madam Chua, a housewife, said: “I felt two rounds of tremors which both lasted for about five seconds. This all happened within a minute.
“My husband, who also felt the tremors, later checked and told me that an earthquake had occurred.”
The earthquake struck at 8.39am local time (9.39am Singapore time) with an epicentre located about 17km northeast of the regency, BMKG said on its Twitter post. It occurred at a depth of 10km and posed no tsunami threat, the agency added.
The quake was also felt in Malaysia.
The Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) issued an alert on the temblor on Twitter at 10.12am.
"Tremors from the quake could be felt in the western part of Peninsular Malaysia, especially Selangor, Perak, Negri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor," MetMalaysia said.
Indonesia’s 17,000 islands are prone to earthquakes because the country straddles the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of fault lines and volcanoes that causes frequent seismic upheavals.
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