No casualties from major quake on western coast of Indonesia: officials

Indonesian officials on Thursday said that no damages and casualties were reported from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that jolted the Mentawai Islands on the western coast of Indonesia Wednesday night.

"There's no report on death toll based on the information from our monitoring team," West Sumatra Deputy Governor Nasrul Abit told reporters in the province's capital city of Padang.

The quake, which occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers in the Indian Ocean and with an epicenter 636 kilometers southwest off West Sumatra's Mentawai Islands, hit at 7:49 p.m. local time on Wednesday and had prompted a tsunami alert which was lifted a couple of hours later.

However, Indonesia's Meteorology, Climate and Geophysics Agency, which also monitors earthquakes, said aftershocks were recorded on Thursday morning rumbling throughout the region, with a 5.8 magnitude at 7:10 a.m. and a 5.3 magnitude at 9:30 a.m..

The agency said people should remain calm and vigilant, as they estimated that the tremors had reduced in force since the major quake which caused a panic among residents in Padang, who were previously traumatized by the 2009 earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people.

"Based on data from these aftershocks we do not believe there will be an earthquake of greater strength," the agency said in a statement.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency, or BNPB, said the 115 affected areas in five provinces are safe and the residents have been suggested to return home.

The National Search and Rescue Agency on Thursday also dispatched a ship carrying military personnel, and search and rescue officers to Tuapejat in the Mentawai islands, which were the closest land to the quake's epicenter off Sumatra's west coast.

The team will check on the situations on the isolated communities, it said in a seperate statement. Endit