A magnitude-8.7 earthquake struck off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra late Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The Colorado-based Geological Survey said the quake, which struck at 11:09 p.m. (1609 GMT), was centred 205 kilometres west-northwest of Sibolga or 1,410 kilometres northwest of Jakarta at a depth of 30 kilometres. The epicentre is reported to be about 420 kilometres south- southeast of Banda Aceh, the Indonesian province devastated by the December 26 tsunami. Experts said the quake might have been an aftershock of the December quake that triggered the tsunami. The Pacific Tsunami warning centre in Hawaii has said there is a high risk of a tsunami, particularly in the two to three hours after the quake, and several countries in the region - including Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia - have issued tsunami warnings. Despite the alerts, there have been no signs that a tsunami was imminent. The Meteorological and Geophysics office in Jakarta has said that the threat of a tsunami is lessening as the hours pass although the alerts remained in place. --More 2330 Local Time 2030 GMT
