Three earthquakes have hit Indonesia in 24 hours, killing at least nine people and sending residents fleeing to high ground in fear of tsunamis. The most recent tremor, with a magnitude of 6.2, struck Thursday off Sulawesi island in eastern Indonesia, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. That tremor came after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck earlier Thursday off Sumatra island in western Indonesia, while on Wednesday, an 8.4-magnitude tremor shook the same part of Sumatra. Hundreds of homes were damaged by the earthquakes, but the death toll has so far remained low. The first earthquake triggered a nine-metre wave that slammed into the coast of Sumatra, the island that was ravaged by a tsunami in December 2004. More than 230,000 people in 12 countries were killed by the wave and its aftermath, including 160,000 in western Indonesia. Tsunami alerts were issued and retracted repeatedly for Indonesia on Thursday. The country is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" — an arc of volcanoes and fault lines that circles the Pacific Basin. Continue Article Rukhlan, a 43-year-old fisherman who goes only by one name, said residents in Muara Maras in western Indonesia were horrified when they saw the ocean retreat and then rush to shore on Wednesday. The water flooded the village and damaged dozens of homes. "I heard people screaming and yelling tsunami," he said. "Then I ran to find my children, but they had already run to the hills."

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