5.2-magnitude quake jolts Yogyakarta

YOGYAKARTA: A 5.2-magnitude earthquake hit Yogyakarta at 3.39 a.m. on Thursday, causing panic among residents.

At 3:48 a.m., an aftershock measuring 2.6 on the Richter Scale took place at the same epicenter in the Indian Ocean at a depth of 17 kilometers, 108 kilometers southeast of Wonosari city in Gunungkidul regency.

The tremor could be felt across the province until Pacitan, East Java.

"I was about to go to sleep and all of a sudden I felt the quake," said Sulistiono, a resident in Yogyakarta.

As he was still traumatized by the massive quake that took place on May 27, 2006, which devastated more than 200,000 homes in Yogyakarta and Central Java, Sulistiono said he immediately rushed out of the house.

"I was preparing to go to the mosque to perform the dawn prayer when the quake occurred," said fellow resident Arjiah, 80.

Yogyakarta weather station head Budi Waluyo said the quake was caused by the shift between the Indoaustralian and Eurasian faults but did not trigger a tsunami due to the distance of the epicenter. - JP