An earthquake of 7.1 magnitude shook Aceh early this morning but no reports on damaged property or fatalities in the incident were received.

The Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) recorded the earthquake’s epicentre at 419km south-west of Meulaboh, with a depth of 10km, which occurred at 1.36am followed by several aftershocks.

According to local media reports, the quake was also felt by residents in Banda Aceh and its surrounding areas, while those in the coastal areas felt strong winds and left their homes for safer areas.

In Banda Aceh town, residents gathered at the Pantai Pirak Bridge and Simpang Surabaya Bridge to monitor the waters of Kureng Aceh River for signs of a tsunami.

However, the situation calmed down after authorities retracted a tsunami warning shortly after it was issued following the earthquake.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Education Attaché Ludinata Misnun in a statement today informed that Malaysian students in Banda Aceh are safe.

He said the National Malaysian Student Association in Indonesia (PKPMI) Aceh branch had contacted all students and directed them to take shelter on higher ground, but they returned home after the tsunami warning was withdrawn.

He added that students in Medan are also safe, a majority of whom did not even realise the earthquake as the tremors were weak.

Tsunami warning withdrawn for northern states

In another development, the Meteorological Department has withdrawn the tsunami warning for Kedah, Perlis, Penang and north Perak issued early this morning following the strong earthquake that was detected on the west coast of north Sumatra.

Principal assistant director, Geophysics and Tsunami Division, Ahmad Zaki Mohamad Saat said the tsunami warning previously was withdrawn after the result of monitoring in each state at about 7am was satisfactory.

“We have monitored all the places in the states involved, and found that the earthquake that occurred early this morning did not pose a tsunami threat,” he said when contacted by Bernama, in Kuala Lumpur today.

He said, early this morning there was a strong earthquake on the west coast of north Sumatra and it affected the sea, and his department had issued an alert to the public to stay away from the beaches.

“Tremors have been reported by the public between 2am and 3am earlier, mainly from Penang, and we have advised them to stay away from the coast.
   
“We did not receive many calls this morning probably because the incident occurred when the people were sound asleep,” he said.

A Kedah Fire and Rescue Department spokesperson said his department did not receive any complaint about any earthquake this morning, but received an instruction to withdraw the earthquake alert on the possibility of a tsunami.