Indonesia: Large, shallow earthquake strikes Aceh province, killing girl
Families flee on motorcycles and cars to higher grounds in the capital Banda Aceh following an earthquake that struck off Indonesia’s Aceh province early January 22, 2013, killing an 8-year old girl and injuring others.
An earthquake struck Indonesia’s western Aceh province on Tuesday, reportedly killing a child and injuring others.
The magnitude-6.0 quake sparked panic in the provincial capital Banda Aceh, devastated in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, DPA reported.
According to the Associated Press, most of the 230,000 people across Asia killed in the 2004 earthquake and tsunami were in Aceh.
Bloomberg pointed out that the quake hit just as residents of Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, had began returning home after severe flooding a week ago.
The floods had created some 46,000 refugees in Indonesia's largest city, on the island of Java.
Meanwhile, Aceh is often rocked by earthquakes.
However, Maryani, a Banda Aceh resident, was quoted as saying:
"The quake was felt very strongly and I prayed to God there wouldn’t be a tsunami."
The shock wave spread over the north-western island of Sumatra — the six biggest island in the world, according to Voice of Russia.
An 8-year-old girl was killed and eight people injured by falling debris, VOR reported.
The epicenter of the latest quake was less than 10 miles southwest of Banda Aceh, DPA cited a geophysics agency as saying, adding that it was shallow at a depth of 52 miles.