At leat five people died in Indonesdia Wednesday after two massive earthquakes struck off the coast of Aceh.

Three died from heart attacks and two from shock, according to authorities.

Western portions of Indonesia, with Aceh in green (Wikimedia Commons)

Indonesia had feared that the two quakes - magnitude 8.2 and 8.6 - might trigger a tsunami like the one that struck Aceh in 2004.  But within 30 minutes, officials had determined that the quakes had not caused a tsunami.

John McCloskey, professor of Geophysics, told the BBC:

"In this case the movement in the earthquakes was horizontal - and horizontal movements do not create bulges on the surface of the ocean which generate tsunamis... Very quickly after the quakes were recorded we were able to say that it was unlikely there would be a tsunami."

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami killed more than 230,000 people, 70,000 in Aceh.