Sumatra quake felt in some parts of Thai South

PHUKET, THAILAND, October 27 (TNA) - Some areas of Phuket Province in the Thai South have been affected by a 5.3-magnitude earthquake on the northern Sumatra Island in neighbouring Indonesia on early Monday morning, but local people did not panic. Phuket's emergency medicine staffs received many phone calls from people on Koh Sirey of Ratsada Sub-district, along Karon Beach in Karon Sub-district, along Surin Beach in Choeng Thale Sub-district and many other areas, especially seaside ones, informing the sensed quake. The local office of disaster prevention and mitigation reported that the local sea level remained normal and the National Disaster Warning Centre did not issue any tsunami warning. Besides, people in Phuket did not panic about the incident. Thanit Nuyim, provincial natural resources and environment chief in nearby Satun Province, told reporters, meanwhile, that people on many islands in the province, including Koh Lipe and those at the Pak Bara Port in La-ngu District did not feel the quake and international tourists were arriving in the province as usual. Thanit said that local people are now well-prepared for quakes, relevant precautions and evacuations, after they experienced a devastating quake-borne tsunami in late 2004. The early Monday quake, with its epicentre detected 24 kilometres underground, was reported at around 7:02am on the Sumatra Island's northern region, about 256 kilometres from Phuket. (TNA)