JAKARTA, 29 March 2005 — A massive 8.7 magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia’s Sumatra Island yesterday and killed several people, perhaps dozens, but there were no immediate reports of a tsunami, residents and officials said.
The epicenter, off the coast, was very close to that of the Dec. 26 quake which triggered a tsunami that left nearly 300,000 people dead or missing across Asia.
Yesterday’s late night earthquake spread panic across western Indonesia, Sri Lanka and coastal parts of Malaysia, Thailand and India, the areas devastated by the Boxing Day tsunami. Sirens wailed and tens of thousands of people were evacuated after tsunami warnings while others drove or ran from the coast to higher ground.
There were no signs of a tsunami up to three and a half hours after the 1609 GMT quake, but it killed dozens of people and destroyed hundreds of homes in Gunungsitoli, the main town on Indonesia’s Nias Island, a local official told Metro TV.
“I can guarantee that dozens have died,” Agus Mendrofa, the deputy mayor of the town, said by telephone.
“Gunungsitoli is now like a dead town. The situation here is extreme panic.”
A senior police officer told Reuters he had seen three dead bodies and that many others were trapped in damaged buildings.
“The earthquake was massive, it’s still shaking now,” said A. Nainggolan, the deputy police chief in Gunungsitoli.
Nias, off the western coast of Sumatra and about 1,400 km northwest of Jakarta, is a remote and rugged island famed as a surfing paradise. The Pacific tsunami warning center said the quake had the potential to cause a “widely destructive tsunami” and authorities should take “immediate action,” including evacuating coastlines within 1,000 km of the epicenter.
One official said any possible tsunami could be headed toward the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius.
But the center added: “Authorities can assume the danger has passed if no tsunami waves are observed in the region near the epicenter within three hours of the earthquake.”
Early today, Thai officials withdrew a tsunami warning, saying the threat of a killer wave from the quake has probably passed. “We are now telling people that they can return to their homes. We believe it’s safe now. We believe that if it (a tsunami) would have happened, it should have happened by now,” Chalermchai Aekkantrong, deputy director of Thailand’s meteorological department, told the local ITV television network.
Unlike in the immediate aftermath of the December quake, reactions were quick across nations on the rim of the Indian Ocean, although it was close to or past midnight in the region. Tens of thousands of people across northern and western Sumatra fled their homes, TV and residents said.
Thailand urged people living along parts of its west coast, including tourists on the resort island of Phuket, to evacuate while Malaysia issued a warning to coastal residents.
“About 3,000 to 4,000 tourists and locals have been evacuated from Patong and Kamala beaches to higher places,” Phuket Deputy Governor Wichai Buapradit said.
Officials in Indonesia, India and elsewhere said there were no reports of a tsunami.
