Two high magnitude and shallow earthquakes struck Indonesia on Wednesday August 19, off the island of Sumatra, according to the US geological service USGS, without victims and significant damage being reported at first .
Panicked residents left their homes when the two earthquakes shook the town of Bengkulu, located on the west coast of Sumatra.
" The first earthquake was rapid ... but another struck soon after, just as strong, " told AFP a resident of Bengkulu, Jumentrio, who like many Indonesians has only one name. " My children cried hysterically ."
The region has been hit by a series of aftershocks, according to the Indonesian Geophysical and Meteorological Agency. “ So far, no damage caused by this earthquake has been reported to us, ” said Rahmat Triyono, head of this agency.
These two earthquakes, of magnitude 6.8 and 6.9 and a depth of between 22 and 26 km respectively, occurred six minutes apart from 5:23 a.m. on Wednesday (11:23 p.m. in Paris), said the USGS.
There is a " low probability that there will be casualties and damage " given the characteristics of these tremors. Shallow earthquakes usually cause less damage.
No tsunami warning has been sounded in the Indian Ocean, according to the tsunami warning system.
The Indonesian archipelago is located on the Pacific " ring of fire ", an area of high seismic activity. In 2018, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake followed by a tsunami on the island of Sulawesi left more than 4,300 dead and missing. Another devastating 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra in 2004, causing a tsunami that killed 220,000 people in the region, including around 170,000 in Indonesia.
