April 05, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 16, 1428

JAKARTA: A strong 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit off Indonesia's Sumatra island on Wednesday, geologists said, but there were no reports of casualties or damage. The quake struck at 3:23 am (2023 GMT Tuesday) around 100 kilometres southeast of Bengkulu, the capital of the province of the same name, said Aprilyanto from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency here. Aprilyanto said that the quake struck at a depth of 57 kilometres.

The Indonesian archipelago sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where continental plates meet, an area of frequent seismic and volcanic activity.—AFP