BANDA
ACEH, Indonesia - A powerful 8.6
magnitude earthquake and a series of strong aftershocks struck off Indonesia on
Wednesday, sending people scurrying from buildings as far away as southern
India, but there seemed little risk of a disastrous tsunami as in 2004.
Indonesia
said it was checking for damage and casualties but remarkably, no such reports
had been received for several hours after the quakes, including in Aceh, the
closest province and the area decimated by the disaster eight years ago.
However,
some areas close to the epicenter are remote so it could take some time to find
out if there was any damage.
Many
people were frightened of further tremors.
"It's
dark out here but I am scared to go home," said Mila, a 41-year-old woman
taking refuge in the grand mosque in the town of Banda Aceh, the provincial
capital.
"I
just want to stay alert because I fear there will be more quakes coming. We are
human, it is only natural that we have fear, but I really wish we will all be
safe."
Waves
of up to one meter (3.3 feet) high were seen near islands off Aceh, but
Indonesia cancelled a warning for fresh tsunamis. It said the worst-hit area
was the thinly populated island of Simeulue, off Aceh's southern coast.
The
first quake struck at 4.38 am EDT (4.38 p.m. Singapore time) and an 8.2
magnitude aftershock just over two hours later, at 6.43 am EDT (6.43 pm
Singapore time). Two more strong aftershocks hit later.
The
Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center also withdrew tsunami warnings for
the entire Indian Ocean after keeping them in force for several hours.
"Level
readings now indicate that the threat has diminished or is over for most
areas," the agency's bulletin said.
Thailand
and India also withdrew tsunami warnings.
Thailand,
Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India were all badly hit in 2004. At least 230,000
people in 13 Indian Ocean countries were killed in the Boxing Day disaster that
year, including 170,000 in and around Aceh alone.
Last
year, an earthquake and tsunami off Japan's northeastern coast killed at least
23,000 people and triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years after
waves battered a nuclear power station.
On
Wednesday, people near the coast in six Thai provinces were ordered to move to
higher ground. Authorities shut down the international airport in the Thai
beach resort province of Phuket.
The
quakes were about 300 miles southwest of Banda Aceh, on the northern tip of
Indonesia's Sumatra island, the US Geological survey said. The first was at a
depth of 20.5 miles.
Indonesia's
disaster management agency said power failed in Aceh province and people were
gathering on high ground as sirens warned of the danger.
"The
electricity is down, there are traffic jams to access higher ground. Sirens and
Koran recitals from mosques are everywhere," said Sutopo, spokesman for
the agency.
"The
warning system worked," Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
said.
Warning
sirens also rang out across the Thai island of Phuket, a tourist hotspot that
was one of the worst hit areas in the 2004 tsunami.
"Guests
from expensive hotels overlooking Phuket's beaches were evacuated to the hills
behind and local people were driving away in cars and on motorcycles. Everyone seemed
quite calm, the warning had been issued well in advance," freelance
journalist Apichai Thonoy told Reuters by telephone.
OUT ON THE STREETS
Indonesian
television showed people gathering in mosques in Banda Aceh. Many others were
on the streets, holding crying children.
In the
city of Medan, a hospital evacuated patients, who were wheeled out on beds and
in wheelchairs.
Wednesday's
quakes were felt as far away as the Thai capital, Bangkok, and in southern
India, hundreds of office workers in the city of Bangalore left their buildings
while the port of Chennai closed down because of tsunami fears.
The
quakes were in roughly in the same area as the 2004 quake, which was at a depth
of 18 miles along a fault line running under the Indian Ocean, off western
Indonesia and up into the Bay of Bengal.
Experts
said Wednesday quakes were a "strike-slip" fault, meaning a more
horizontal shift of the ground under the sea as opposed to a sudden vertical
shift, and less risk of a large displacement of water triggering a tsunami.
"The
nature of the sideways rupture and sideways movement is not predisposed to
cause a bad tsunami, so almost certainly, the crisis has been avoided,"
said David Rothery, an expert at the Open University in the UK
The
quakes were also felt in Sri Lanka, where office workers in the capital,
Colombo, fled their offices.
Mahinda
Amaraweera, Sri Lanka's minister for disaster management, called for calm while
advising people near the coast to seek safety.
"I
urge the people not to panic. We have time if there is a tsunami going to come.
So please evacuate if you are in the coastal area and move to safer
places," Amaraweera told a private television channel.
In
Bangladesh, where two tremors were felt, authorities said there appeared to be
no threat of a tsunami. Australia also said there was no threat of a tsunami
there.
Reuters
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