An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale jolted Bengkulu at 11:44 local time on Saturday morning, ANTARA quoted the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) as reporting. The epicenter of the earthquake was located at 3.89 degrees southern latitude and 101.74 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 25 km under the sea level, or some 52 km southwest of Lais in North Bengkulu. People in Bengkulu city distinctly felt the tremors and scrambled out of their homes in panic for fear of another stronger aftershock. Indonesia"s 17,000 islands are scattered along a belt of volcanic and seismic activity known as the "Pacific Ring of Fire," making the archipelago one of the most quake-prone regions on the planet. --SPA
