"No one has yet reported any damage to their house or other buildings," Erizal, chief of the Padang Panjang Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), remarked in Padang Panjang today.
Erizal noted that apart from awaiting reports from the local residents, his team had also collected data from the community regarding likely damage to buildings caused by the earthquake.
"We conducted patrols while gathering information at the same time," he added.
Erizal called on the people to increase their awareness of possible natural disasters in Padang Panjang.
"It is important to stay calm and to not panic during an earthquake," he affirmed.
According to information obtained from the Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics in Padang Panjang, an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale struck the town on Thursday, June 6, at approximately 5:56 a.m. local time.
The epicenter of the earthquake was located at 2.29 degrees South Latitude and 100.46 degrees East Longitude at a depth of approximately 72 kilometers south-west of the eastern coast of West Java. The earthquake did not have the potential to generate a tsunami.
The agency recently stated that the earthquake was caused due to subduction activities of the Indonesian and Australian plates.
"We could really feel the tremors here in Padang Panjang," Rina, a resident of Balai-Balai village, noted.
"We ran out of the house as soon as we felt the tremor," she affirmed while holding her son.
In Pekanbaru and Bengkulu, citizens also felt the tremors of the earthquake.
According to reports, the earthquake did not affect the volcanic activity of Mount Kerinci, the highest volcano in Indonesia.
"We have not noticed any impact of the earthquake on the volcano," Indra Saputra, head of the observation post of Mount Kerinci, stated.
With an altitude of 3,805 meters, Mount Kerinci is the highest peak on the island of Sumatra and is located in Jambi Province.
Although strong tremors were felt in a few cities across Sumatra, no serious damage was reported.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
