Sep 13, 2007, 11:22 GMT
Jakarta - A series of powerful aftershocks rattled Indonesia's Sumatra Island Thursday, panicking thousands of residents who stayed outdoors overnight after an initial magnitude-8.4 earthquake left at least nine people dead and dozens injured, officials said.
A young girl stands on the ruins of her house after the earthquake hit their village in Lais, Bengkulu, Indonesia, 13 September 2007. A strong earthquake shook Southeast Asia, collapsing buildings, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens in Indonesia. The earthquake triggered small waves off the coastal town of Padang in Sumatra, the island ravaged by the 2004 tsunami disaster. EPA/MAST IRHAM
Thursday's first quake caused extensive damage in the city of Padang on the western coast of Sumatra, where hundreds of buildings collapsed or were damaged in the city centre.
'Many buildings collapsed after this morning's quake,' Padang Mayor Fauzi Bahar told the Jakarta-based Elshinta radio. 'We're still trying to find out about victims.'
The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency in Jakarta twice issued tsunami warnings Thursday morning after two aftershocks hit at 6:49 am (2349 GMT Wednesday) and 8:26 am (0126 GMT) as rescue workers were speeding to affected areas to assess the destruction from the magnitude-8.4 tremor on Wednesday night.
Both tsunami warnings were lifted after no waves materialized following the aftershocks - the first measuring 7.8 and the second 6.7 on the Richter scale, officials said.
The US Geological Survey said the first quake Thursday was centred about 200 kilometres north-west of Bengkulu, a coastal city in south-western Sumatra. It occurred at a shallow depth of about 10 kilometres, and it could be felt as far away as Singapore, where it reportedly caused tall buildings to sway.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii warned that the first quake Thursday had the potential to generate a regional tsunami along coasts within 600 miles of its epicentre. It advised authorities to take immediate action to evacuate coastal areas.
The second aftershock was centred 130 kilometres south-west of the West Sumatran coastal district town of Painan at a depth of 46 kilometres, the Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.
Wednesday's earthquake shook South-East Asia at 6:10 pm (1110 GMT), collapsing hundreds of homes and buildings across Sumatra. That tremor triggered a small non-destructive tsunami off Padang on the west-central coast of Sumatra, the Indonesian island ravaged by the 2004 tsunami.
The first quake on Wednesday evening was the world's most powerful so far this year. In the hours since, more than 30 aftershocks ranging from magnitude 4.9 to 7.8 strong have shaken the area, prompting thousands of frightened people to pile into trucks and seek shelter on high ground.
Geologists warned residents across the coastal areas of West Sumatra to remain alert as more strong aftershocks that could produce tsunamis were predicted for the next two weeks.
On Wednesday, a tsunami watch was issued for wide areas of the region and nations as far away as Sri Lanka. Indonesia issued a tsunami warning and a second one after an aftershock struck less than four hours later. Both were later called off.
Rustam Pakaya of the Indonesian Health Ministry Crisis Centre in Jakarta told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that nine people were killed and nearly 50 others injured in Bengkulu and West Sumatra provinces in Wednesday's quake. He said he feared the death count to rise.
Emergency services personnel were working as fast as possible to reach people who may be trapped under collapsed buildings, Pakaya said, adding that many of the injured were being treated in the open air amid fears that further tremors would bring down weakened hospital buildings.
In the Mentawai islands off the west coast of West Sumatra, the fate of about 20,000 inhabitants remained unknown after high waves were reported following Thursday's powerful tremblors, the Kompas daily newspaper reported.
'Telecommunications and transportation were cut off following a small tsunami this (Thursday) morning when up to 3-metre waves came onshore,' Mentawai's sub-district chief Eliza Murty was quoted as saying.
'Mentawai is now totally isolated,' Eliza said, adding that the quakes destroyed thousands of homes as well as a harbour pier.
Thousands more homes and buildings across Sumatra were flattened by the quakes and aftershocks, which hit at the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. In many places, phone lines and electricity service remained down.
A United Nations relief team flew to Bengkulu Thursday morning with humanitarian supplies and planned to conduct a recovery assessment of the area. Bengkulu was also heavily damaged by an earthquake several years ago.
Wednesday's quake was powerful enough to sway buildings and slosh the water out of swimming pools in Jakarta, hundreds of kilometres away, and scare office workers into racing out of their high-rise towers in Malaysia and Singapore.
That quake was initially measured at 8.2 on the Richter scale before being raised to 8.4 by the US Geological Survey.
The tremblors, repeated tsunami warnings and public panic were largely related to December 26, 2004, when a 9.0-magnitude- earthquake triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in 14 Indian Ocean countries, claiming 177,000 people alone in Indonesia's Aceh province, which lies on the northern tip of Sumatra.
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