A strong earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale struck near Indonesia's Nias island late on Tuesday. There are no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The underwater quake hit at 10:28pm (local time) at a depth of 1.9 kilometres, some 270 kilometres south-west of Sibolga on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre says "a destructive widespread tsunami threat does not exist based on historical earthquake and tsunami data. However, there is a very small possibility of a local tsunami that could affect coasts located usually no more than 100 kilometres from the earthquake epicentre." Nias was one of the worst areas affected by the December 26, 2004 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that killed more than 220,000 people around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 people in the Indonesian province of Aceh.