Thursday, October 1, 2009 21:06 WIB | National | |

Manado, N Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - A magnitude 5.5 earthquake was recorded in the Talaud Islands region in North Sulawesi at 9.30 am on Thursday.

The epicenter of the quake was 20 kilometers deep, 76 kilometers northeast of Melonguane Talaud, North Sulawesi, Tri Hariyono, an operational staff of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency in Manado, said.

He said the temblor was an aftershock following a magnitude 5.1 quake 41 kilometers northwest of Melonguane and 5.8 quake 87 kilometers northeast of Melonguane on Wednesday.

He said the quake did not cause damage and people in Talaud, Sangihe, Sitaro or Manado had not felt the tremor.

He said quakes often happened in the region but their magnitude was not high as the strong energy had already been released during the big quake last February.

"When the big quake occurred it was believed much energy was released and therefore the present quakes are not very strong," he said.

He said small quakes were also recorded in the region on September 29 and September 27. He appealed to people in Sangihe, Sitaro and Talaud islands to remain calm as no danger was imminent.

A strong 7.6 magnitude quake hit West Sumatra on Wednesday killing so far more than 300 people and destroyed many buildings in the region. Efforts still continued to find people buried under the rubbles.

A smaller 7.0 magnitude quake followed in Jambi, Sumatra, on Thursday causing a lot of destruction. A man reportedly had died of a heart attack following the quake.(*)