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5.7 Quake after Shock Felt in Phuket
Screenshot of the USGS website showing the location of this afternoon's quake, about 900 km from Phuket
CHIANGRAI TIMES – A 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island on Monday but there were no reports of damage, the Indonesian geophysics agency said.
The undersea quake struck at 4.46pm (4.46pm Thailand time), with a depth of 10km, some 470km southwest of Simeulue island in Aceh province, the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.
The tremor could be felt in several provinces on the Andaman coast of southern Thailand, especially in Phuket where residents and tourists on beaches, city areas and at the airport could sense ground shaking which reportedly lasted only a few seconds, prompting people to rush out of buildings as a precaution.
Thaworn Chareondee, an earthquake expert at the National Disaster Warning Centre, said the quake’s epicentre was located close to the areas in Aceh province that were shaken by two massive earthquakes and triggered a tsunami alert last Wednesday. He said no tsunami warning had been issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre and people should not panic. The centre had informed officials in the provinces on the Andaman coast, he said
Earlier Monday, a 5.8-magnitude quake struck Sulawesi Island. The quake hit at 10.17am (10.17am Thailand time) at a depth of nearly 10km, 169km northwest of Kendari.
