Earthquake hits Indonesia's North Sumatra

An earthquake measuring 5.6 Richter scale jolted North Sumatra province of Indonesia earlier Tuesday, the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said here.

The quake struck at 07:53 a.m. local time with epicenter at 9 km northwest North Nias of the province and with the depth at 10 km under land, an official of the agency told Xinhua via phone.

An aftershock with magnitude of 5.1 followed the main shock at 08:27 a.m., the official said.

Nias was hit by a strong quake in 2005 that caused a massive damage and dozens of fatalities.

Indonesia is prone to quake as it sits on a vulnerable quake- hit zone called "the Pacific Ring of Fire." Endi