A shallow 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck 12 miles off the coast of Indonesia's Aceh province at 5:03 a.m. local time, causing buildings to collapse in Meureudu and other towns in Pidie Jaya district. The Indonesian army chief in Aceh said that at least 54 people were killed in the earthquake, though the number may well rise as search-and-rescue teams recover bodies from the rubble of buildings.
The U.S. Geological Survey said there is no tsunami risk from this earthquake. A massive magnitude 9.2 earthquake off the coast of Aceh in December 2004 caused a tsunami that left massive destruction in towns bordering the Indian Ocean, including killing more than 120,000 people in just Aceh province, on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.