Magnitude 7.9 quake hits Sumatra, tsunami warning issued

By Ahmad Pathoni

JAKARTA (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake measuring 7.9 struck near Indonesia's Sumatra island on Wednesday triggering tsunami warnings across the region, officials said.

Indonesia's Global TV reported several buildings in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra had collapsed, while Metro TV reported that some buildings had caught fire.

A Reuters witness said residents of Padang fled for higher ground.

Indonesia's Meteorological agency said via an sms alert that the earthquake's epicentre was 159 km (99 miles) southwest of Bengkulu, which is in south Sumatra.

The head of the agency's seismology centre, Fauzi, said he had not received any report of a tsunami from the affected areas.

"But we have not withdrawn the tsunami alert until we are certain that the danger has passed," he said by telephone.

"It seems there is some damage but we don't know how serious it is."

Some residents of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand also felt the quake, which struck at just after 6 p.m., and some buildings were evacuated.

Budi, a police chief in Bengkulu, said on Indonesia's Elshinta radio that he felt a strong quake. "People panicked and tried to save themselves," he said.

He added that he heard a report that a three-storey building had collapsed.

One resident in Bengkulu told Reuters it was difficult to assess the damage because there had been a blackout.

"There's a blackout. The quake was very strong and I rushed out of my house. I don't know if there's any damage because it's dark," Edi Santoni, 38, told Reuters by phone.

Widyastuti, a 23-year-old IT worker in Jakarta who was in one of Bank Indonesia's offices in central Jakarta, said: "After praying I felt the earthquake. I panicked, threw away my shoes and ran through the emergency exit."

Indonesia suffers frequent earthquakes, lying on an active seismic belt on part of the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire".

TSUNAMI ALERTS

Malaysian authorities issued a tsunami warning for citizens to stay away from beaches. The alert was for four states fronting peninsular Malaysia's northwest coast, the same region hit by the 2004 Asian tsunami which also followed an Indonesian sub-sea quake.

"We are asking people to stay away from beaches," science ministry spokeswoman Ainon Mohd told Reuters when asked about the quake near Indonesia's Sumatra island.

"This not an evacuation. We are just telling people to stay away from the beaches," added Dr Mohd Rosaidi Cheabas, director of the Meteorology Department's seismological division.

The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services also issued a tsunami alert for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands but said no alert had been issued for the mainland yet after the earthquake in Indonesia.

"As yet there is no alert for the mainland," an official at the centre told Reuters.

Sri Lanka also issued a tsunami alert for its north, south and eastern districts.

There was some initial confusion over the number of quakes as the United States Geological Survey issued two different reports, with conflicting measurements and locations for the quake.

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.

A 7.9-magnitude quake has struck off the western coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island, prompting authorities to issue a tsunami warning, meteorologists said.

The undersea earthquake, which hit at 6.10pm (9.10pm AEST), struck in the sea about 100km southwest of the city of Bengkulu, at a depth of roughly 15km, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake was strongly felt in the capital Jakarta, some 600km away, where it caused tall buildings to sway.

An official at the Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said a tsunami warning had been issued.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake measured 8.0, and that a second quake measuring 7.9 had also hit the Sumatra region.

Indonesia was the nation worst hit by the earthquake-triggered tsunami of December 2004, which killed some 168,000 people in Aceh province alone.

The archipelago nation sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where continental plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity

A POWERFUL quake measuring 7.9 struck near Indonesia's Sumatra island today, triggering tsunami warnings in Indonesia, Malaysia, north-west Australia, India and Sri Lanka, officials said.

Indonesia's Global TV reported that several buildings in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra had collapsed, while Metro TV reported that some buildings had caught fire.

The US Geological Survey said the underwater quake hit at about 6.10 pm (2110 AEST) and was centred 105 kilometres south-west of Bengkulu on Sumatra island at a depth of 15.6 kilometres.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a tsunami warning for wide areas of the region.

"Earthquakes of this size have the potential to generate a widespread destructive tsunami that can affect coastlines across the entire Indian Ocean Basin," it said, warning that waves could hit Indonesia and Australia within an hour.

Sri Lanka and India could be struck within three hours, it said.

A preliminary tsunami warning has been issued to residents of Christmas and Cocos islands.

The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre (JATWC) issued a potential tsunami threat warning at 9.44pm (AEST) today saying that a tsunami could start affecting Christmas and Cocos islands from 7pm local time today (2230 AEST).

The centre is seeking confirmation that a tsunami has been generated.

Residents in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand felt the quake and some buildings were evacuated.

Buildings collapsed in the Indonesian town of Mukomuko on the west coast of Sumatra, a policeman told local radio.

Budi Darmawan said that buildings of three storeys and higher had either collapsed or cracked in the town, which is located approximately 300 kilometres from the quake's epicentre.

Four had so far collapsed, he told ElShinta radio, after fleeing into the hills away from the coast.

"Those with cracks are many, buildings of three floors or more are either fissured or collapsed," he said.

Malaysian authorities issued a tsunami warning for citizens to stay away from beaches. The alert was for four states fronting peninsular Malaysia's north-west coast, the same region hit by the 2004 Asian tsunami which also followed an Indonesian sub-sea quake.

"We are asking people to stay away from beaches," science ministry spokeswoman Ainon Mohd told Reuters when asked about the quake near Indonesia's Sumatra island.

"This not an evacuation. We are just telling people to stay away from the beaches," added Dr Mohd Rosaidi Cheabas, director of the Meteorology Department's seismological division.

The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services also issued a tsunami alert for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands but said no alert had been issued for the mainland yet after the earthquake in Indonesia.

"As yet there is no alert for the mainland," an official at the centre told Reuters.

Indonesia suffers frequent earthquakes, lying on an active seismic belt on part of the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire".

The USGS initially said on its website there was quake measuring 8.0, and then a short time later said there was a quake measuring 7.9 at slightly different location.

It was unclear if there were two quakes.

India, Australia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka on tsunami alert

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Malaysia and Sri Lanka issued tsunami warnings on Wednesday after an earthquake in Indonesia and told people to stay away from beaches, while India also issued an alert for its remote Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Australia also issued a tsunami warning for its Christmas and Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean, urging people to move out of the water and away from low-lying coastal areas.

"We have issued a warning for the south, north and east after the quake," Keerthi Ekanayake, an official at Sri Lanka's National Disaster Management Centre told Reuters.

Sri Lanka and India were battered by the 2004 tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean rim.

India said it was sounding the alert for the Andaman and Nicobar islands, which lie around 1,200 km (750 miles) off its east coast.

"We have issued an alert for the Andaman islands but not for the mainland," Shailesh Nayak, director of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Service, told Reuters.

The Indian home ministry's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said it had also told authorities in all coastal areas on the mainland to be vigilant, but the biggest risk appeared to be for the Andamans.

"The warning is red, it is one level below the highest," said an NDMA official, referring to the Andaman islands.

"A tsunami alert has been issued and we are transmitting it to every island," Kishan Saran Singh, the chief of the Disaster Control Committee for the Andaman and Nicobar islands told Reuters.

Police in the islands said they had contacted the southernmost islands of Great Nicobar and Car Nicobar "but nobody felt anything".

Staff at Australia's Christmas Island hospital told Reuters by telephone they had not noticed any change in sea level or felt any affect from the earthquake.

"Based on the magnitude and location of this earthquake, tsunami could start affecting these locations at the following local times, Christmas Island and Cocos Island from 07:00 pm (1200 GMT) Wednesday," said Australia's tsunami warning centre.

"The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre is seeking confirmation that tsunami have been generated," said the centre on its Web site (www.bom.gov.au).

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.