Powerful earthquake jolts western Indonesia, tsunami alert issued

JAKARTA: A 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia's western province of West Sumatra early Tuesday and was potential of triggering a tsunami, the meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency said.

The earthquake happened at 03:00 a.m. Tuesday Jakarta Time (2000 GMT Monday), with the epicenter at 177 km northwest in Mentawai Islands district and a depth of 84 km under the seabed, Xinhua news agency reported.

A tsunami warning has been put in place by the agency, as the tremors of the quake have the potential of triggering giant waves.98