by: Staff reporters
     From: news.com.au
     January 11, 2012 6:11AM

The earthquake struck off Aceh in Indonesia. Picture: United States
Geological Service Supplied

UPDATE 7.05am: INDONESIA has issued a tsunami warning after a powerful
quake this morning off Aceh province.

The United States Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary
magnitude of 7.3 and struck 420km off the coast of Aceh province about
2.37am local time (5.37am AEDT) today.

It was centered 30km beneath the ocean floor.

Arief Akhir, an official with Indonesia's geological agency, said a
tsunami warning has been issued.

"The quake was in the sea and a tsunami warning is in force, but so far
we have no reports of casualties or damage," Suharjono, from Indonesia's
Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, told AFP.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the threat of a widespread
tsunami did not exist but added: "There is a very small possibility of a
local tsunami that could affect coasts located usually no more than a
hundred kilometres from the earthquake epicentre."

In Banda Aceh, the ground shook for 30 seconds and terrified residents
rushed out of their homes, but they returned indoors shortly after, an
AFP reporter there said.

Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the
Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling
the Pacific Basin.

A giant quake off the country on Boxing Day in 2004 triggered a tsunami
in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, half of them in Aceh.

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