| 5.7 Quake Hit Padang, Malaysian Students Safe |
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By Mohd Nasir Yusoff
JAKARTA, Nov 11 (Bernama) -- No Malaysian students studying medicine at the Andalas Universiti in Padang are injured in the 5.7 magnitude earthquake that hit West Sumatra province and caused residents to panic early today.
Malaysian Students' Department director Dr Junaidi Abu Bakar said his quick check with several student leaders there this morning confirmed none of the 281 students were injured or affected in any way.
"Many of them briefly felt the tremors and realised there was an earthquake but later proceeded to their campus to sit for the on-going examinations," he told Bernama at his Hari Raya open house here.
The 6.42am earthquake, measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale, struck with the epicentre located 100km west of Pariaman in the Mentawai Straits at the depth of 20km from the sea surface, according to the Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysic Agency website.
Earlier, another 6.0 magnitude earthquake also jolted Muko-muko sub-district in Bengkulu, causing people to panic at about 6.20am.
There were no reports of casualties or damage to properties in both incidents, according to local authorities in Padang and Bengkulu.
On September 12, a 7.9 magnitude powerful earthquake shook Bengkulu and West Sumatra, killing about 25 people and damaging over 40,000 houses.
Since then more than 160 aftershocks were felt.
-- BERNAMA
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