An earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale has hit the southern coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The earthquake was large enough to have caused considerable damage to cities and towns on Sumatra and to have created a tsunami, or tidal wave, an Australian seismologist said.
The earthquake occurred at 6.28 am (1928 GMT), with an epicentre in the ocean, around 400 km (250 miles) west of the capital, Jakarta. The coast near the epicentre is not considered to be densely populated. Earthquakes regularly hit Indonesia, occasionally causing widespread damage. An earthquake measuring 6.8 killed at least 2,200 people on a string of islands in Indonesia in 1992.
