Strong Quake Triggers Panic In Indonesia

A strong earthquake jolted western Indonesia early Sunday, sending panicked residents fleeing from their homes, officials and witnesses said. The power of the tremor shook telephone and electricity poles and forced the evacuation of at least one hospital.

The tremor had a preliminary magnitude of 6.7 and struck 27 miles from Raba, a town on Sumbawa island, the agency said. It was centered at a depth of 18 miles.

It had a depth of just six miles beneath the ocean floor, the agency said, but did not trigger a tsunami and there were no immediate reports of injuries.

"It was very strong ... even utility poles were shaking," said Dina Ramadani, a resident in Bengkulu, adding that people started screaming after one pole toppled over and crashed into a street.

Some ran to high ground, fearing a tsunami. Worried about aftershocks, officials at one hospital in Jambi province told all patients to temporarily leave the building. Some were being treated outside.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheavals due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

In December 2004, a massive earthquake struck off Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, including 160,000 people in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.

Two months ago, an 8.4-magnitude quake off Bengkulu that was followed by two tremors measuring 7.8 and 7.1 killed 23 people and destroyed thousands of buildings. The region has since been hit by hundreds of aftershocks.