Meulaboh, Aceh (ANTARA News) - An earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale jolted Meulaboh, Aceh Province, on Monday at 01.09 am local time.

The quake`s epicenter was located at 4.45 degrees northern latitude and 96.39 degrees eastern longitude, and at a depth of 45 km, the Aceh meteorological, climatology and geophysics agency (BMKG) said.

A number of residents of Ujong Kalak village, Meulaboh, rushed out of their houses in panic when they felt the temblor.

"I was watching a film when I felt the temblor, in the beginning I stayed, but when other friends went out, I followed them," Andilia Farisma, a Meulaboh villager, said.

Head of the Aceh BMKG`s Observation Section Saiful Amri said the earthquake did not have potential to trigger a tsunami.

"An earthquake which has potential to cause a tsunami has a magnitude of at least 7 on the Richter scale or more, therefore we don`t have to panci," Saiful said.

As a country located in the Pacific Ocean`s "Ring of Fire" of volcanoes and earthquakes, Indonesia is one of the world`s most disaster-prone countries.

One of the worst disasters hitting Indonesia in modern history was the deadly tsunami which devastated Aceh Province and Nias Island (North Sumatra Province) on December 26, 2004, which killed around 200,000 people and rendered about one million others homeless.
(Uu.F001/HAJM)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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