By Fransiska Nangoy and Angie Teo\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0JAKARTA (Reuters) -A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck west of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island on Tuesday, Indonesia’s geophysics agency (BMKG) said, triggering a tsunami warning for around two hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0The tsunami warning, asking local authorities to immediately instruct residents of the affected area to move away from shores, has since been lifted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) earlier pegged the quake at 6.9 magnitude.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0The quake, at a depth of 84 kilometres (52.2 miles), hit at about 3 a.m. local time (2000 GMT). A number of aftershocks were detected later, and one registered 5 magnitude, BMKG data showed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said authorities were collecting data from the islands nearest the epicentre off the western shore of Sumatra, spokesperson Abdul Muhari said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0In Padang, the capital of West Sumatra, the quake was felt strongly, and some people moved away from the beaches, said Abdul, who was in Padang.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0“People left their homes. Some were panicking but under control. Currently some of them are evacuating away from the sea,” he said, adding he had seen no damage so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0Local news footage showed some Padang residents evacuating by motorbike and foot to higher ground. Some carried backpacks while others huddled together under an umbrella against the rain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0“On the Siberut island, people had already been evacuated. They have been told to stay at the evacuation area until tsunami warning is lifted,” Noviandri, a local official told TvOne.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0Indonesia suffers frequent earthquakes because it straddles the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismically active zone where different plates of the earth’s crust meet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru, Fransiska Nangoy and Angie Teo in Jakarta; Editing by Chris Reese, Bill Berkrot and Cynthia Osterman)\u00a0<\/p>\n