6.2-magnitude quake hits western Indonesia, no tsunami alert issued

A strong 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of western Indonesia today, US seismologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The quake hit the Mentawai islands in West Sumatra province about 75 kilometres southwest of the provincial capital Padang at 1706 GMT, at a depth of 49 kilometres, according to the US Geological Survey.

The disaster agency said officials were checking for damage and casualties.

John Nedy, a resident of Padang, said people fled their homes when the quake struck, and most were reluctant to return for the time being.

"The earth quake was very strong. Some people say it's safe now to go back to our homes, but most people are still afraid," Nedy told AFP.

Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide.

An earthquake struck the country's western Aceh province in December 2016, killing more than 100 people, injuring many more and leaving tens of thousands homeless.
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312 dead, 2,000 homeless as mudslides, flooding sweep Sierra Leone

At least 312 people were killed and more than 2,000 left homeless on Monday when heavy flooding hit Sierra Leone's capital of Freetown, leaving morgues overflowing and residents desperately searching for loved ones.

An AFP journalist at the scene saw bodies being carried away and houses submerged in two areas of the city, where roads turned into churning rivers of mud and corpses were washed up on the streets.

Red Cross spokesman Patrick Massaquoi said the death toll was 312 but could rise further as his team continued to survey disaster areas in Freetown and tally the number of dead.

Mohamed Sinneh, a morgue technician at Freetown's Connaught Hospital, said 180 bodies had been received so far at his facility alone, many of them children, leaving no space to lay what he described as the "overwhelming number of dead".

Many more bodies were taken to private morgues, Sinneh said.

Images obtained by AFP showed a ferocious churning of dark orange mud coursing down a steep street in the capital, while videos posted by local residents showed people waist and chest deep in water trying to traverse the road.
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