Jakarta, 25 February 2022 (TDI): A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck inland near the western coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island. Resultantly, seven people got killed and dozens are injured.

Seismic waves of the earthquake have also been felt in the neighboring states Malaysia and Singapore. Dwellers in certain places were compelled to escape their homes, while Malaysians were evacuated approximately 400 kilometers (250 miles) away.

According to the Director of Indonesia’s Geophysics Agency BMKG, they were continuously watching and warning the people to stay vigilant. The magnitude was first estimated to be 6.2 by the agency.

According to the Disaster Mitigation Agency, seven people have been killed and 85 are wounded. Some buildings, including a government office, houses, and a bank also have been damaged.

 

The epicenter of the quake was six kilometers (3.73 miles) northeast of Majene city at a depth of 10 kilometers. A hospital in West Pasaman has been evacuated which was far approximately 17 kilometers (10.6 miles) from the epicenter of earthquake.

While the witnesses claimed that the earthquake shook the building for more than a minute and rattled the glass windows and furniture severely. People congregated in front of their houses and offices. They were frightened by the seismic waves.

Authorities in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, received the calls regarding earthquakes felt in the city, but no casualty or damage has been reported yet. Local spectators claimed that they felt vibrations for around one to two minutes.

Singaporean police confirmed on Twitter that they had also received the calls from people reporting tremors, however, no injuries had been reported.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location in the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” a seismically active zone where several plates of the earth’s crust collide. The fissure that runs through Sumatra island can be highly active and deadly.

In 2004, an enormous 9.1 magnitude earthquake and tsunami off the northern coast of Sumatra had killed 226,000 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and nine other countries of the world.