Magnitude 8.2 Quake Hits Indonesia's Sumatra Island (Update5)
Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- An 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck near the coast of Indonesia's Bengkulu province on Sumatra island, prompting countries bordering the Indian Ocean to evacuate people from coastal areas amid fears of a tsunami.
The earthquake hit at 6:10 p.m. local time at a depth of 15 kilometers (9.3 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said. The Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency lifted its tsunami warning two hours later, though issued a second warning following a 6.6 magnitude quake in the same area at 9:40 p.m.
The temblor was less powerful than a 9.1 magnitude quake off the coast of Sumatra in December 2004, which caused a tsunami that devastated coastal communities in countries across the Indian Ocean, killing more than 220,000 people. Today's quake, which shook buildings from Jakarta to Singapore, killed at least one person in Indonesia and injured five others.
``The electricity is still down in Bengkulu so it's difficult to verify the extent of the damage,'' Rustam S. Pakaya, head of crisis management at Indonesia's Health Ministry, said by telephone. The ministry will send medical teams and emergency supplies to affected areas, he said.
Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is located on the so-called Pacific ``Ring of Fire,'' an arc of volcanoes and geologic fault lines surrounding the Pacific Basin. The archipelago lies in a zone where four tectonic plates meet. These plates constantly shift, sometimes causing earthquakes that can cause tsunamis.
The U.S. Geological Survey revised the magnitude of today's quake from an initial estimate of 7.9, making it bigger than an 8.1 magnitude temblor that struck the Solomon Islands in May.
Communications Disrupted
The quake caused the walls of the Bunda Hotel in Bengkulu city to crack, Taura, a cleaner at the hotel, said by phone. ``There's panic,'' he said. ``People are setting up tents in front of their houses. There's concern about aftershocks.''
Soedibyo, Bengkulu city's police chief, said people were told to remain outdoors until further notice.
Communication with areas closest to the earthquake's epicenter have been disrupted, Pakaya from the Health Ministry said. ``It's very possible the quake caused damage,'' he said.
Sri Lanka, the second-worst affected nation in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, ordered an evacuation of its eastern and southern beaches. The nation's weather office said it would lift its tsunami warning after one-foot-high waves generated by today's quake hit its southern coastline.
India Warning
Neighboring India issued a tsunami warning for the Andaman & Nicobar Islands off the southeast coast and started evacuating people from the southern coast of Tamil Nadu.
Most of the more than 10,000 people who died in India during the 2004 natural disaster were located in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Tamil Nadu.
The risk of damage from waves traveling across the Indian Ocean is ``not serious,'' Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services Director Shailesh Nayak said in a phone interview from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.
While there's a ``possibility'' of a tsunami on the northwest coast of Malaysia, no such waves have been detected, said Rosaidi Che Abas, director of seismology at the nation's Meteorological Services department. Japan also issued a tsunami warning, though said its own coastline wasn't under threat.
Last Updated: September 12, 2007 11:09 EDT
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