NORTH SULAWESI JOLTED BY 5.1 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE

Manado, April 20 (ANTARA) - A tectonic earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale jolted Melonguane town in Talaud district, North Sulawesi, at 1.42 a.m. on Monday but there was no immediate report on casualty and material damage.

Meteorology and geophysics agency (BMG) spokesman Mujianto said here on Monday that the epicenter of the earthquake was located at 4.19 degrees northern latitude and 126.97 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 60 kilometers under the sea level, and 39 kilometers northeast of Talaud.
Ronald Montoh, a resident of Talaud district, said the earthquake was strong enough to make the locals scramble out of their homes in panic for fear of another stronger aftershock.
"We were so afraid and women were screaming as they fled their homes," Ronald Montoh said, adding that the people of Talaud were still traumatized by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake which devastated thousands of houses and other public facilities on February 12 this year.
That powerful earthquake on February, 2009, causing a stampede of residents who fled to higher grounds, briefly triggered a tsunami warning but it was lifted about an hour later after the threat of killer waves had passed.
At least 42 people were injured and several were killed in the temblor which devastated thousands of houses including several school, hospital and church buildings.
Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
On December 26, 2004, a massive earthquake off Indonesia's western island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami that battered much of the Indian Ocean coastline and killed more than 230,000 people.