Padang, West Sumatra Province - An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted Padang, in the wee hours of Saturday, causing panic among local residents.

The temblor's epicenter was located at 0.86 degrees southern latitude, and 99.91 degrees eastern longitude, around 34 Km southwest of Pariaman, at a depth of 34 km below sea level, said Fajar, a staff member of the Padangpanjang meteorological and geophysics office, here on Saturday.

Since early March, West Sumatra has been shaken by four earthquakes, with magnitudes up to 6.5 on the Richter scale.

On September 30, 2009, West Sumatra was devastated by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake which killed over 1,000 people and destroyed thousands of buildings.

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