Earthquakes with different magnitudes rocked Sinabang and Meulaboh in Aceh province, and Saumlaki in Maluku province on Thursday, ANTARA reported. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reported that an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale jolted areas in Aceh at 04:28 West Indonesia Time (WIB) on Thursday morning. BMKG said the epicenter of the earthquake was located at 2.71 degrees northern latitude and 95.58 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 10 km under sea level. It was also located some 90 km northwest of Sinabang, 169 km southwest of Meulaboh, 179 km southwest of Blangpidie, 181 km southwest of Labuhanhaji, and 186 km southwest of Tapaktuan, all in Aceh province. But BMKG said the earthquake did not have a potential to trigger tsunami and therefore the people were asked to stay calm. In less than four hours later on Thursday another earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted Southwest Maluku district town of Saumlaki in Maluku province at 08:13 a.m. (WIB), or 10:13 a.m. Eastern Indonesia Time (WIT). According to BMKG report, epicenter of the magnitude 5.0 earthquake was located 7.46 degrees southern latitude and 129.28 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 146 km under the sea level. It was also located at 233 km northwest of Saumlaki, 429 km northeast of Dili, Timor Leste, 434 km northwest of Tual, 443 km southeast of Ambon, and 599 km northwest of Darwin, Australia. Indonesia is prone to seismic upheavals due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire", an area of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. On Tuesday this week Pagaralam town in South Sumatra was rocked by a 5.1-magnitude earthquake with its epicenter located 17 km southwest of Bintuhan in Bengkulu province at 7:38 a.m local time. BMKG said the epicenter of the earthquake was located at 4.74 degrees southern latitude and 103.19 eastern longitude at a depth of 21 km below sea level. The magnitude of the earthquake was powerful enough to be felt by the people in Pagralam, Lahat, and other areas in South Sumatra and Bengkulu and prompted them to rush out of their houses and office buildings in panic. --SPA
