**An earthquake of magnitude 7.9 has struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra.**The epicentre was about 50km off the coast, near the city of Padang. There are reports of many houses collapsing but the casualty situation is unclear.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has lifted the tsunami watch it issued.
It comes hours after tsunamis triggered by an unrelated earthquake in the South Pacific killed more than 100 people across a number of islands.
Witnesses said residents ran out of buildings in Padang and other cities.
“A number of hotels in Padang have been destroyed,” Indonesian geophysics and meteorology agency tsunami warning head Rahmat Triyono told AFP.
“Up to now we haven’t been able to reach Padang, communications have been cut,” Mr Triyono added.
Reports said the shaking could be felt in high buildings in the capital Jakarta and was also felt in Singapore and Malaysia.
The region lies along the same fault line that spawned the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed more than 230,000 in a dozen countries