BALI, February 7 (RIA Novosti) - A panic among Indonesian nationals ensued after a 5.6 magnitude struck off the country’s West Sumatra province on Thursday, national news agency Antara reported.

The Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics said the epicenter of the earthquake was registered some 50 kilometers (31 miles) to the northwest of West Sumatra at the depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in the Indian Ocean.

“I was in bed when I felt a powerful quake and rushed outside fearing that a more powerful one would follow,” the agency cited as saying a resident of Padang city in West Sumatra.

There was no information of destruction to infrastructure or human casualties as of yet.

Indonesia is notorious for its high volcanic and seismic activity, as it sits on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates meet.

In 2004, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck the eastern coast of Sumatra, causing a tsunami that hit the coasts of Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia. It is unclear exactly how many perished in that natural disaster, but the closest estimates are at 230,000 victims.