7.4 Mag Quake Rocks Indonesia

Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia—An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.4 rattled Indonesia's North Sumatra province Sunday, prompting a brief local tsunami watch, knocking out power and damaging some homes, officials said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the afternoon quake hit 135 miles southeast of Banda Aceh at a depth of 38 miles. Indonesia and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu issued a tsunami watch for the area, but both canceled their warnings less than 90 minutes later.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center watch said there was no threat of a widespread tsunami, but "there is the possibility of a local tsunami that could affect coasts located usually no more than a hundred kilometers from the earthquake epicenter."

Fauzi, chief of Indonesia's meteorology agency, said the closest town to the epicenter was Meulaboh, where a small "tsunami wave" just 7.9 inches high was detected by a buoy off the coast. Fauzi, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, said the official tsunami watch had been canceled.