Hundreds evacuated in west Indonesia after magnitude 6.1 earthquake

JAKARTA (Reuters) -About 200 people evacuated to higher ground after an earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck islands in western Indonesia on Sunday, causing some property damage, the country’s disaster mitigation agency BNPB said.

The quake in the Mentawai Islands west of Sumatra struck at a depth of 27 km (17 miles) and was followed by one of magnitude 5.3 in the same area, authorities said. There was no danger of tsunami.

One person was injured in the head by falling wood, and a school and health centre were among properties slightly damaged, the disaster agency said.

Mentawai resident Nurjuli Hasanah told Reuters the quake felt strong and shook her wooden house. “Some of (the residents) are still in an evacuation shelter and some have gone back home,” she said.

Also on Sunday, east of the vast Indonesian archipelago, an earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck the Eastern New Guinea region in Papua New Guinea, reportedly damaging property and spreading panic among residents.

Indonesia straddles the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, where different tectonic plates of the Earth’s crust meet and create frequent seismic activity.

(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru, Stefanno Sulaiman in Jakarta and Nur Azna Sanusi in Singapore; Editing by Daniel Wallis and William Mallard)