Indonesia pounded by earthquake

BENGKULU – Indonesia’s Sumatra island was pounded by aftershocks on Thursday after a massive earthquake toppled hundreds of buildings, killing at least 10 people and burying many others in the wreckage.

Tsunami warnings were repeatedly issued and lifted for Indian Ocean countries after the magnitude 8.4 earthquake – the biggest anywhere in the world this year – was followed over the next 18 hours by 22 tremors in the same area ranging in intensity from 4,9 to 7,8. A separate earthquake was reported around 10h00 GMT off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, to the east of Sumatra.Indonesia’s Meteorology agency put the magnitude of the quake at 6,4, at a depth of 30 km and issued a tsunami warning but soon lifted it.An Australian seismologist said the region was lucky to have escaped a devasting tsunami after the Sumatra quake, similar to the one triggered by the 2004 quake that killed more than 280 000 people.”There was a tsunami created by the earthquake, it just travelled in a southwest direction away from land,” said Mike Turnbull at Central Queensland University.The initial quake – which took place on the eve of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and was felt in neighbouring Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand – cut communication lines and sparked widespread panic in the hours that followed.But by yesterday evening, it appeared the region may have been spared a major disaster.”We are grateful for the fact that the situation wasn’t as bad as we initially thought it would be,” said Muhammad Syamlan, vice governor of Bengkulu province, whose capital Bengkulu was close to the epicentre of the quake.”During this holy fasting month we have prepared fasting break meals and pre-dawn meals for those who cannot return to their homes.”A Reuters photographer in Bengkulu’s provincial capital said the situation appeared calm, with shops re-opening and people milling around.The province, one of Indonesia’s key coffee-growing regions, has a population of about 1,57 million.Many people chose to sleep out in the open on Wednesday night rather than return indoors, said a Red Cross official in Bengkulu, a mountainous area that attracts few foreign tourists.- Nampa-ReutersA separate earthquake was reported around 10h00 GMT off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, to the east of Sumatra.Indonesia’s Meteorology agency put the magnitude of the quake at 6,4, at a depth of 30 km and issued a tsunami warning but soon lifted it.An Australian seismologist said the region was lucky to have escaped a devasting tsunami after the Sumatra quake, similar to the one triggered by the 2004 quake that killed more than 280 000 people.”There was a tsunami created by the earthquake, it just travelled in a southwest direction away from land,” said Mike Turnbull at Central Queensland University.The initial quake – which took place on the eve of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and was felt in neighbouring Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand – cut communication lines and sparked widespread panic in the hours that followed.But by yesterday evening, it appeared the region may have been spared a major disaster.”We are grateful for the fact that the situation wasn’t as bad as we initially thought it would be,” said Muhammad Syamlan, vice governor of Bengkulu province, whose capital Bengkulu was close to the epicentre of the quake.”During this holy fasting month we have prepared fasting break meals and pre-dawn meals for those who cannot return to their homes.”A Reuters photographer in Bengkulu’s provincial capital said the situation appeared calm, with shops re-opening and people milling around.The province, one of Indonesia’s key coffee-growing regions, has a population of about 1,57 million.Many people chose to sleep out in the open on Wednesday night rather than return indoors, said a Red Cross official in Bengkulu, a mountainous area that attracts few foreign tourists.- Nampa-Reuters