Indonesia rocked by earthquake

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- An undersea earthquake that hit Sunday near the Indonesian island of Sumatra sent people fleeing from their homes in panic, but the temblor was not strong enough to generate a tsunami, seismologists and meteorologists said.\nThe 6.8-magnitude tremor's epicenter was centered about 70 miles southwest of Padang, a city in western Sumatra, at a depth of nearly 19 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said.\n"Many people in Padang are panicking," said Yusuf, an official from Indonesia's Geophysics and Meteorology Agency who uses only one name. "People have left their houses, especially those living on the coast."\nTremors from the earthquake were felt in several areas surrounding the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur, national meteorological chief Chow Kok Kee told TV 3 news.\nThe quake was recorded at 5:29 p.m. (6:29 a.m. EDT) in the Kepulauan Mentawai region, the USGS said. There have been no reports of damage, USGS spokeswoman Clarice Ransom said.\nSumatra was devastated by the Dec. 26 tsunami and earthquake that killed nearly 183,000 people in 11 countries and left another 129,000 missing.\nIndonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, was the hardest hit with at least 126,000 people killed and more than 500,000 left homeless, mostly in Aceh province on Sumatra.\nThe region has experienced regular aftershocks since. On March 28, an 8.7-magnitude quake hit a string of islands off Sumatra, killing at least 647 people.