A powerful earthquake struck off the west coast of Sumatra at 6.50am local time on Thursday morning, 13 hours after another major tremor had rattled the same region. More than a dozen smaller shocks were felt overnight.

The US Geological Survey measured Thursday’s quake at 7.7 on the richter scale, centred 185km south-east of the city of Padang. It was weaker than Wednesday evening’s 8.4-magnitude quake, which was further south, nearer the city of Bengkulu. However, Thursday’s quake was shallower, at 10km as compared to 30 kms, and so appeared to have caused more damage.