EARTHQUAKE SHAKES BANDA ACEH

Banda Aceh, Nov. 10 (ANTARA) - An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale shook Banda Aceh and its environs at 9.48 am local time on Tuesday.

The quake's epicenter was located at 7.91 degrees northern latitude, and 9.48 degrees eastern longitude, at a depth of 10 km below sea level in waters near Nicobar island, India, according to Parsih, a staff member of the Mata Ie meteorology, climatology and geophysics station.

The temblor was felt particularly by people staying in high-rise buildings.

Indonesia's 17,000 islands are scattered along a belt of volcanic and seismic activity known as the "Pacific Ring of Fire," making the archipelago one of the most quake-prone regions on the planet.

Last Monday at dawn, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake that rattled Bima town, West Nusa Tenggara province, injured 88 people.

Six of the injured sustained bone fractures, the head of the health ministry's crisis control center, Dr Rustam S Pakaya, said in a short message service (SMS) text sent to ANTARA.

He said the quake also killed one person, identified as Siti Aisyah. The 70-year-old woman died after receiving intensive medical treatment for seven hours at a local general hospital.

Meanwhile, West Sumatra authorities have declared 212 people as missing in the magnitude 7.9 earthquake and subsequent landslides that devastated the province on September 30, 2009.

The bodies of 212 people were not found after 14 days of search, West Sumatra Deputy Governor Marlis Rahman said on Monday. He said they were believed to have been buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings and mudslides, he said.

Data from the West Sumatra natural disaster mitigation task force which put the death toll in the September 30 quake at 1,195 included the missing victims, he said.

In December 2004, a 8.9-magnitude earthquake devastated Aceh and Nias Isle (North Sumatra Province) and triggered a deadly subsequent tsunami which killed around 200,000 people.