Several highrise towers in Kuala Lumpur were evacuated this morning after being rattled by powerful aftershocks from Indonesia's massive earthquake.

The tremors peaked with an early morning 7.8-magnitude quake that triggered dozens of panicky calls to fire and rescue authorities in Kuala Lumpur, the official Bernama news agency said.

Indonesia's Sumatra island was hit with an 8.4 magnitude earthquake late Wednesday, which left at least six reported dead and dozens injured, and set off tsunami alerts as far away as eastern Africa.

A spokesman for the Jalan Hang Tuah Fire and Rescue station in central Kuala Lumpur said that after the tremors rattled several major buildings, residents and workers were asked to vacate as a precaution.

"Civil Defence Department personnel are assisting us to check if the tremors caused cracks in the buildings," he told Bernama, adding that the workers and residents returned to their premises 45 minutes later.

The rumbling was not felt at the Petronas Twin Towers, Malaysia's tallest building and once the tallest in the world, and there was no damage to the structure, a spokesman said.

No tsunami threat

Earlier today, the government have also said that there was no tsunami threat following the series of massive earthquakes in Sumatra island.

However the authorities warned residents to stay away from coastal areas.

"Please be advised to stay away from the beach in the states of Perlis, Kedah, Perak and Penang," the meteorological services department said in a statement last night.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre late yesterday evening issued a tsunami alert for the entire Indian Ocean region after the 7.9-magnitude quake.

The magnitude of the earthquake which struck at 7.10pm was revised to 8.2 in the Richter scale.

Yesterday, police in Penang also had warned hotel operators to evacuate their guests from beachfront areas.

"We have the tsunami alert from the police. We are clearing our guests from the beach. But the sea is really calm," Virginia Scully, a spokeswoman for the Paradise Sandy Bay resort, told AFP.

In Selangor and Johor, Malaysians ran out of shaking buildings following the quake but no injuries were reported.

Sixty-eight people were killed in Malaysia by the December 2004 tsunami, most of them on the island of Penang.