Indonesian gov't revises magnitude of West Sumatra quake to 7.9

JAKARTA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- An Indonesian official said on Saturday that the magnitude of the earthquake devastating West Sumatra on Sept. 30 had a magnitude of 7.9, which was declared as only 7.6 by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency on the day.

The quake turned out to be higher than the authorities and the public thought, said Muhamad Taufik Gunawan, head of the Padangpanjang office of the agency.

"The agency is responsible for issuing the data five minutes after an earthquake strikes at the latest and reporting it to the government and the public. After the release of the preliminary data, we found, several minutes later, that the magnitude of the quake was 7.9. This is accurate," he added.

He said the agency would not officially announce the revision.