BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- A major earthquake
struck late Monday off the west coast of Indonesia, and a
local government official said 296 people were killed in collapsed buildings. Thousands panicked in countries
across the Indian Ocean as tsunami warnings were posted.
Fears of another catastrophe similar to December's devastating tsunami eased
within hours, as officials in countries closest to the quake's epicenter said
there were no reports of big waves striking their coasts after the temblor was
reported.
Early reports of damage and casualties were confined to the island of Nias,
off the Sumatran coast, close to the epicenter.
The quake collapsed about 70 percent of houses and buildings in the town of
Gunungsitoli, said police Sgt. Zulkifli Sirait.
Agus Mendrofa, deputy district head on Nias island, told el-Shinta radio
station that 296 people were killed. He said this figure was based on reports
from humanitarian workers on the island.
"We still cannot count the number of casualties or the number of collapsed
building because it is dark here," Sirait said in a telephone interview. "It is
possible that hundreds of people trapped in the collapsed buildings died."
Nias, a renowned surfing spot, was badly hit by the 9.0 earthquake and
subsequent tsunami on Dec. 26 that killed at least 175,000 people in 12 Indian
Ocean nations and left another 106,000 missing. At least 340 residents of Nias
perished and 10,000 were left homeless.
The U.S. Geological Survey said Monday's quake, which occurred at 11:09 p.m.
local time (11:09 a.m. EST), measured a magnitude of 8.2. A later reading put
the magnitude at 8.7, said Paul Earle, a USGS geophysicist.
A tsunami warning was issued in Thailand, Japan and Sri Lanka, although
officials in Thailand and Sri Lanka later canceled it. The only tsunami reported
within four hours was a tiny one--less than 4 inches--at the Cocos Islands, a
group of 27 islands about 1,400 miles west of Australia with a population of
about 600, meteorologists in Sydney said. No damage was reported.
"It seems this earthquake did not trigger a tsunami. If it had, the tsunami
would have hit the coastline of Sumatra by now," said Prihar Yadi, a scientist
with the Indonesia Geophysics Agency. "And if there's no tsunami on the
coastline near the epicenter of the quake, there will not be one heading in the
other direction."
Indonesian officials said the epicenter was in the Indian Ocean about 56
miles south of the island of Simeulu, off Sumatra's west coast, and just north
of Nias. It was described by a USGS geologist as an aftershock of the
devastating Dec. 26 quake.
Preliminary indications are that energy from the quake might be directed
toward the southwest, said Frank Gonzalez, an oceanographer with the National
Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle. He stressed it was
based on "very scanty information" about the epicenter and magnitude.
Monday's quake had an epicenter about 110 miles southeast of where the Dec.
26 quake was centered. The USGS said it occurred on a segment of the same fault
line that triggered the Dec. 26 quake, the world's biggest in 40 years.
Two aftershocks--one measuring 6.0 and another measuring 6.7--were reported in
the same region late Monday and early Tuesday, the USGS said.
The quake occurred at a depth of 18.6 miles, and was centered 125
west-northwest of Sibolga, Sumatra, and 150 miles southwest of Medan, Sumatra,
the USGS said.
The depth does not mean a lot for a quake this large, Earle said, calling it
a near-surface earthquake and comparable to the one in December. After that
quake, the agency initially recorded the depth of the temblor at six miles.
Shallow earthquakes like that generally are more destructive because the seismic
energy is closer to the surface and has shorter to travel.
Monday's quake was considered to be at a moderate depth.
The Dec. 26 quake triggered a huge tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean
at the speed of a passenger jet. More than 1.5 million people were left homeless
in 11 countries.
In Banda Aceh, the Sumatran city hit hardest in December, Monday's quake
spread panic as it briefly cut electricity. Thousands were awakened and poured
into the streets.
The quake lasted about two minutes and felt like gentle swaying, like a
rocking chair, causing people to feel dizzy.
People grabbed small bags of clothes as they fled tents and homes. Many were
crying and jumping into cars and onto motorbikes and pedicabs to head for higher
ground. Two women wearing prayer shawls and sarongs grabbed a fence and chanted
"Allahu akbar," or "God is great."
"People are still traumatized, still scared, they are running for higher
ground," said Feri, a 24-year-old aid volunteer who goes by one name.
Panic gripped at least one relief camp in Banda Aceh. An Associated Press
photographer saw thousands fleeing their tents--but with nowhere to go, they
milled in crowds along the road. Police with megaphones coaxed people back to
their tents.
Warning sirens blared along Sri Lanka's east coast, the government urged
people to evacuate immediately to higher ground, and all night trains traveling
along the coast were suspended.
The Sri Lankan military was put on full alert and several naval ships
monitored the coast, said military spokesman Brig. Daya Ratnayake. Fishermen at
sea were warned not to return to shore.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga called an emergency meeting at her home with
Cabinet members and went on state TV to assure the country "we are taking all
precautionary measures."
Low-lying coastal areas in Malaysia's northern states also were
evacuated.
On Dec. 26, the tsunami crashed onto coastlines in Indonesia's Aceh province
within 45 minutes of the massive earthquake hitting offshore, but Sri Lanka was
hit several hours later after the waves traveled the breadth of the Indian
Ocean.
In Washington, State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said U.S.
diplomatic missions in Asia and Africa went into "battle mode" to respond
quickly to any contingency.
The quake was felt as far away as Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, more than
435 miles from the epicenter.
In Malaysia, panicked residents of Kuala Lumpur and Penang fled their
apartments and hotels after authorities activated fire alarms. Police evacuated
low-lying coastal areas of the northern states of Penang and Kedah.
"I was getting ready for bed, and suddenly, the room started shaking," said
Kuala Lumpur resident Jessie Chong. "I thought I was hallucinating at first, but
then I heard my neighbors screaming and running out."
Singapore residents of high-rise apartments reported buildings swayed.
Slight tremors were felt in the Thai capital of Bangkok, and officials issued
a tsunami warning in southern Thailand, where more than 3,000 died in December.
Officials later said the danger appeared to have passed.
Japan's Meteorological Agency, which also recorded the quake, reportedly
notified six Indian Ocean countries--Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, the
Maldives and Malaysia--about a possible tsunami.
NOAA spokesman Greg Romano said the U.S. State Department passed warnings to
foreign governments.
Officials said after the December disaster that a tsunami early warning
system could have saved many lives. Such a system exists in the Pacific but has
not been established in the Indian Ocean.
Japan and the United States had planned to start providing tsunami warnings
to countries around the Indian Ocean this month as a stopgap measure until the
region establishes its own alert system.
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