Another tsunami warning was issued after a magnitude 7.7 aftershock struck the nation's Sumatra island on Thursday, according to the meteorology.

The magnitude 7.7 aftershock struck at 06:49 Jakarta time (2349GMT) with epicenter at 140 kilometers southwest Sungai Penuh town of Jambi province and at 24 kilometers under seabed, an official of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.

"The quake is potential for tsunami," the official said.

The powerful main shock with magnitude of 7.9 rocked Bengkulu province on Wednesday afternoon. At least nine people were killed and more than 100 were predicted injured in the quake that hit Bengkulu province of Indonesia on Wednesday, Disaster Management Agency said here Thursday.

An official of the agency Firman Haye said that seven of the fatalities were found in Bengkulu city the capital of Bengkulu province and two others in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province. "Seven died in Bengkulu and two in Pandang," Haye told Xinhua.

Strong and moderate aftershocks frequently hit Bengkulu province, scaring the people to return home and settled at open areas.

"Many of the people in the city build tents outside far from buildings," the provincial Red Cross staff Sugent Suyatno told Xinhua from the province.

Outside the biggest provincial hospital in the city, soldiers, police and Red Cross staff build tents outside the cracked hospital buildings to avoid from possibility of the collapse of the building due to frequent tremors, said Suyatno.

"Over 160 patients have been evacuated from inside the hospital building," he said.

Metro television footage showed that patients laying on bed were moved in harsh outside hospital building in Bengkulu and West Sumatra province. 

(Xinhua News Agency September 13, 2007)