A major earthquake struck Sumatra this evening New Zealand time.
Sunday 9th May 2010
A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck 220 km south-south-east of Banda Aceh, Sumatra at 6 o’clock this evening. The undersea quake, which was centred off the Sumatran coast near Meulaboh, was 61 km deep according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a tsunami watch for Indonesia at 6:08 p.m. New Zealand time, cancelling the watch at 6:55 p.m. when sea level readings indicated that a significant tsunami had not been generated.
Geoscience Australia reports the earthquake as magnitude 7.3 at a depth of 62 km. They estimate that it would have caused damage within 130 km of the epicentre and would have been felt up to 1700 km away.
[Compiled from data supplied by the U.S. Geological Survey and its contributing agencies, the U.S. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, and Geoscience Australia.]