Earthquake hits off Aceh; no deaths reported
Source: Agencies |
April 8, 2010, Thursday
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A MAJOR earthquake of magnitude-7.7 struck off the coast of Aceh in north-western Indonesia yesterday, triggering panic and power blackouts, but no deaths were reported and a tsunami alert was later lifted.
Neighboring Thailand and Malaysia also canceled tsunami warnings.
A Reuters photographer in Sinabang on Simeulue island, south of Aceh and close to the epicenter, said electricity was cut in the area and some people were injured, including a child with a head wound who had been hit by fallen masonry.
A local official said 17 people were hurt on the island, including four with serious injuries.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed relief the island of Sumatra appeared to have escaped major devastation.
"Thanks be to God the quake did not cause a tsunami or any significant damage," Yudhoyono told a briefing at Halim airport in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, about 1,200 kilometers southeast of the quake's epicenter.
A Reuters correspondent who flew over Simeulue in a military transport plane saw a few houses with minor damage, and said fishermen had returned to the sea.
The resource-rich island of Sumatra, where Aceh is located, is an important supplier of commodities such as rubber, palm oil and liquefied natural gas, but there were no immediate reports of delays in shipments because of the quake.
In December 2004, a magnitude-9.2 quake off Aceh triggered an Indian Ocean tsunami that killed about 226,000 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and nine other countries.
Yesterday's quake, which struck around 5:15am, was centered 200km west-northwest of the coastal town of Sibolga at a depth of 31km, the US Geological Survey said. The epicenter was around 215km from Medan, the largest city on Sumatra, where blackouts also occurred.
There was a series of smaller aftershocks after the initial major quake.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially warned the quake could generate a local tsunami, but later canceled its tsunami watch.
Indonesian officials said that a 40cm tsunami had been detected in a few areas including Banyak island, where some homes were flooded.
The quake struck while Muslims were attending dawn prayers and some mosques were damaged in Aceh.
(Reuters)
Neighboring Thailand and Malaysia also canceled tsunami warnings.
A Reuters photographer in Sinabang on Simeulue island, south of Aceh and close to the epicenter, said electricity was cut in the area and some people were injured, including a child with a head wound who had been hit by fallen masonry.
A local official said 17 people were hurt on the island, including four with serious injuries.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed relief the island of Sumatra appeared to have escaped major devastation.
"Thanks be to God the quake did not cause a tsunami or any significant damage," Yudhoyono told a briefing at Halim airport in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, about 1,200 kilometers southeast of the quake's epicenter.
A Reuters correspondent who flew over Simeulue in a military transport plane saw a few houses with minor damage, and said fishermen had returned to the sea.
The resource-rich island of Sumatra, where Aceh is located, is an important supplier of commodities such as rubber, palm oil and liquefied natural gas, but there were no immediate reports of delays in shipments because of the quake.
In December 2004, a magnitude-9.2 quake off Aceh triggered an Indian Ocean tsunami that killed about 226,000 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and nine other countries.
Yesterday's quake, which struck around 5:15am, was centered 200km west-northwest of the coastal town of Sibolga at a depth of 31km, the US Geological Survey said. The epicenter was around 215km from Medan, the largest city on Sumatra, where blackouts also occurred.
There was a series of smaller aftershocks after the initial major quake.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially warned the quake could generate a local tsunami, but later canceled its tsunami watch.
Indonesian officials said that a 40cm tsunami had been detected in a few areas including Banyak island, where some homes were flooded.
The quake struck while Muslims were attending dawn prayers and some mosques were damaged in Aceh.
(Reuters)
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