April 11, 2012
Banda Aceh/Jakarta. Two massive earthquakes off the coast of Aceh on Wednesday triggered panic, tsunami warnings around the Indian Ocean and reminders of the horrific 2004 disaster, but little actual damage or injury.
The first quake, which measured 8.5 in magnitude and struck at 3:28 p.m. Western Indonesia time, hit 346 kilometers west of Simeulu in Aceh at a depth of 33 kilometers, according to Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).
The second, stronger at a magnitude of 8.8 but 100 kilometers farther west, hit at 5:43 p.m. At least 13 aftershocks were recorded, the strongest at a magnitude of 8.3.
The initial tremor, which lasted almost five minutes, was felt in across Sumatra and in countries around the Indian Ocean, prompting people in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and India to run out of buildings.
Tsunami sirens quickly rang out in many of the same areas traumatized by the December 2004 9.1-magnitude quake and tsunami that killed more than 220,000 people. Evacuations occurred in the Aceh capital, Banda Aceh, and Phuket, Thailand, which were two of the hardest-hit areas.
Tsunami warnings were issued for 27 countries and for five cities in Sumatra.
In Banda Aceh, the quake cut off electricity and briefly interrupted mobile phone networks, but residents, many of whom have participated in annual tsunami drills since 2004, knew to head for higher ground.
Still, panic ensued in the city’s traffic-jammed streets, and a 70-year-old man was confirmed to have died from a heart attack as evacuating people screamed “a tsunami is coming.”
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, speaking about an hour after the first quake, said there was no tsunami threat though the nation was on alert.
“The situation in Aceh is under control,” he said at a joint conference with visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron. “There’s a little bit of panic but people can go to higher ground.”
The second quake struck after Yudhoyono’s speech, leading to a fresh wave of tsunami warnings.
Many survivors of the 2004 disaster relived their trauma.
“The shaking was just like when there was the tsunami [in 2004],” said Ibnu, a 43-year-old resident of the seaside village of Baet, who lost his wife and two children in the 2004 disaster.
He remarried and now has two kids. “I fled with my children to a place far from our house.”
Many went to the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh, one of the few structures that withstood the surging waters in 2004. People crying and praying in the streets could be heard repeating, “La ilaha illallah” (“There is no God but Allah”).
In Thailand, people near the coast in six provinces were ordered to move to higher ground, while authorities shut down the international airport in Phuket.
By Wednesday evening, the BMKG reported that only three small tsunami waves had hit the coasts of Sabang and Meulaboh in Aceh, measuring between 10 and 80 centimeters high.
The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center canceled its tsunami watch at about 8 p.m. Jakarta time, and Indonesia followed soon after.
“The potential for a tsunami is not as big as in 2004,” said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB).
The quakes on Wednesday caused the earth to shift horizontally along fault lines, he said, while the 9.1-magnitude quake in 2004 triggered a tsunami because the earth’s crust moved vertically.
A quake expert told the BBC that horizontal shifts were less likely to result in a large displacement of water that would trigger a tsunami.
( x the JG)
wo 11 apr 2012 - 19:33