Indonesia rescuers search for survivors as earthquake death toll rises to 38

The epicentre of the shallow quake was located just off the north coast of the island, US and Indonesian authorities said.

The extent of the damage is still being assessed. The area is largely rural with few, if any, high-rise buildings.

Long queues of people were seen evacuating on foot, by motorbike and car, some piled into the back of pickup trucks, after the initial tsunami warning issued by Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency.

Later on Saturday, a second 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Northern Sumatra at a depth of 158km, the German Research Centre for Geosciences said.

The epicentre was located at Pematangsiantar, about 126km southeast of the island’s capital Medan, said the US Geological Survey/

No tsunami warning has been issued.