Posted on 12/25/2004 9:15:48 PM PST by M. Espinola
Jakarta, Dec. 26. (AP): An earthquake measuring 8.5 on the Richter scale rocked large parts of Southeast Asia early today.
The quake reportedly caused dozens of small buildings to collapse and triggered tidal waves in northwestern Indonesia, witnesses and officials said.
Nine people were killed as a result of the undersea quake in Indonesia's northwestern province of Aceh, where most of the damage was reported, el-Shinta radio station quoted a witness as saying.
It was not possible to immediately confirm the reports.
Electricity and telephone networks in parts of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, were knocked out and dozens of shops and buildings collapsed, witnesses told el-Shinta.
"The ground was shaking for a long time," Yayan Zamzani told the station. "It must be the strongest earthquake in the last 15 years."
The quake was also felt in neighboring Thailand and Malaysia. No major damage was reported in those two countries.
A tidal wave hit the Thai tourist resort island Phuket with waves as high as five meters 5 (16 feet) after the earthquake, Thailand's meteorology department said.
The U.S. Geological Survey's Web site recorded the magnitude 8.5 earthquake off the west coast of Northern Sumatra, 1,620 kilometers (1,000 miles) northwest of Jakarta. It was centered 40 kilometers (25 miles) below the seabed, the Web site reported. The survey initially reported the quake as 8.1.
Residents in the towns of Lhokseumawe and Banda Aceh in the northwestern province of Aceh reported tidal waves had triggered flooding in coastal regions.
An Associated Press reporter in Lhokseumawe said several houses had been damaged and that water levels on main streets in the town had reached one-meter (three-feet) high. At least one house had been swept away, he said.
Hundreds of people were fleeing to higher ground, he said.
Indonesia, a country of 17,000 islands, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the margins of tectonic plates that make up the so-called the "Ring of Fire" around the Pacific Ocean basin.
The quake came just three days after an 8.1 quake struck the ocean floor between Australia and Antarctica, causing buildings to shake hundreds of miles away but no serious damage or injury.
Quakes reaching a magnitude 8 are very rare. A quake registering magnitude 8 rocked Japan's northern island of Hokkaido on Sept. 25, 2003, injuring nearly 600 people. An 8.4 magnitude tremor that stuck off the coast of Peru on June 23, 2001, killed 74.
Prayers sent for all those who are affected.
I'm in Singapore and felt nothing this morning!
"A tidal wave hit the Thai tourist resort island Phuket with waves as high as five meters 5 (16 feet) after the earthquake, Thailand's meteorology department said."
Once again I am struck by the irony in the difference between a native tongue and the english pronunction of that tongue relative to the events in the area.
Cowabunga!
Ahhh Phuket :)
Have to really worry about Diego Garcia; thousands of US military there and the island seems to be basically barely above sea level; maxium elevation is 22 feet and average elevation is 4 feet.
A natural disaster strikes a third world, predominately Muslim nation.
IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, OF ALL PLACES???!!!
(This is me, not caring.)
Now that's just not right! LOL Here's hoping all are safe.
yeah....
definitely not fun for them...
The good thing (I guess) is that the areas closest to the quake are relatively un-built up, except for this island.
we will see I guess....
The whole Pacific Rim has been rumbling a lot this year. The current seismic map of the world shows 125 quakes in just the Pacific Rim area - but I don't know what the time period is for the quakes shown.
Living in San Diego, I'm not too thrilled with this upsurge of quakes in the Pacific Rim area.
Wouldn't Kwajalein be in the same situation?
I clearly don't know anything about the military. All the times I heard "Diego Garcia" mentioned in the news I thought it was an aircraft carrier.
Gee thanks. Im here in Southeast Asia.
Some of us care. Hope all is well.
There goes coffee prices up.
By LELY T. DJUHARI
Associated Press Writer
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- An extremely powerful earthquake rocked northern Indonesia Sunday, sparking massive tidal waves across the region - the apparent cause of 160 deaths in Sri Lanka. More than a dozen people were reported killed elsewhere, officials and witnesses said.
The U.S. Geological Survey said a magnitude-8.5 quake - one capable of massive damage - struck off the coast of the island of Sumatra at 8 a.m. Sunday.
Massive waves crashed into coastal villages over a wide area of Sri Lanka on Sunday, killing 160 people and displacing thousands of others, officials said.
The deaths occurred in the northeastern districts of Muttur and Trincomalee, which were inundated by waves as high as 20 feet, said D. Rodrigo, a Muttur district official. No official immediately said what the cause of the waves were, but they occurred shortly after the earthquake in Indonesia. Witnesses told Jakarta's el-Shinta radio station that nine people were killed in the northernmost province of Aceh, and several shops and small buildings had collapsed. But telephone and most communication links to the region were out and there was no immediate way to confirm the casualty and damage reports. "The ground was shaking for a long time," resident Yayan Zamzani told the station. "It must be the strongest earthquake in the last 15 years." Four people died in Thailand in the southern tourist resort of Phuket, said Sorat Susaeng of the Narenthorn Center of the Public Health Ministry. The center also reported that people were swept away in Phuket by a tsunami with waves surging as high as 16 feet.
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