A strong earthquake hit off the coast of Indonesia today but this time — keeping in mind the major tidal wave disaster that followed the massive Indian ocean earthqake in December — officials are leaving nothing to chance:
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia – A major earthquake struck off the west coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island late Monday, damaging hundreds of buildings and sending residents fleeing in panic. Officials issued a tsunami warning for as far away as Sri Lanka.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the temblor, which occurred at 11:09 p.m. local time (11:09 a.m. EST), measured a magnitude of 8.2. A later reading put the magnitude at 8.7, said Paul Earle, a USGS research geophysicist.
Tsunami warnings were issued in Thailand, Japan and Sri Lanka, although officials in Thailand later called it off for that country. The only tsunami reported within four hours was a tiny one — less than 4 inches — at the Cocos Islands, 1,400 miles west of Australia, meteorologists in Sydney said.
But, so far at least, this does not seem as if it’s shaping up to be a re-run of the hideous tragedy that befell South Asia in December:
But fears of another disaster of similar magnitude eased within hours, as officials in countries closest to the quake’s epicenter said they had received no reports of waves striking their coasts three hours after the earthquake hit.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that the quake had caused a small tsunami in the Cocos islands, to the south of the epicenter of the quake.
“There has been no major tsunami observed near the epicenter,� the Tsunami Center said. “There was however a small tsunami observed on the Cocos tide gauge.�
On the other hand, there could still be some horrorific surprises:
A Tsunami Center official, Robert Cessaro, of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center told CNN the quake was likely to have directed any tsunami waves to the south in the direction of Mauritius.
He said the massive quake that struck the region on Dec. 26 was now known to have directed most of its energy toward the north and that had relieved the underground stresses in that direction.
The latest quake was believed to have sent its main energy in the opposite direction, toward the Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues, he said.
“I think it’s very likely that it produced a tsunami but we don’t have any information about it because we don’t have any water level gauges in that area. But something this size is likely to have produced a tsunami,� Cessaro said.
Earlier, tsunami warnings were issued in Thailand, Japan and Sri Lanka. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had warned the quake “has the potential to generate a widely destructive tsunami in the ocean or seas near the earthquake,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned. It advised “evacuation of coasts within a thousand kilometers (600 miles) of the epicenter.”
UPDATE: MSNBC places the death toll at 296.
MSNBC also has this compelling page excerpting “citizen journalists”. Read it all but here are a few highlights:
I was watching television with my wife when suddenly I felt dizzy. My wife, who was drinking water, put down the glass and pointed that water swirling in the mug. She then pointed out ornaments on the wall were swaying.
Immediately ran outside and alerted neighbors. They also felt the tremors. Once outside I propped myself against a car, but it also was shaking. Residents started coming out. The trees along the road and hanging decorative items were swaying for around 90-120 seconds.
Really gave us jitters. After another 20 minutes only did we all feel safe enough to return inside.
— Sasikumar, Telok Panglima Garang, Selangor, Malaysia
And:
My name is Chris Soong and I’m from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I felt the tremor at about 12.20am local time. I was sitting at my PC when I felt my monitor as making me dizzy. I shifted in my seat, but then it happened again. I didn’t think anything of it until a relative of mine called to say that they felt something as well. They said that their cars were moving slightly. Hopefully there will be no tsunami this time.
— Chris Soong, Kuala Lumpur
And:
I was sitting on the sofa watching TV. Then came in my dad, he sat on the sofa next to mine. I wanted to get a drink so I got up. Suddenly, my dad shouted out to me, “The chair is shaking! Earthquake!?!” I was thinking it was the effect of our home theater system, but when I sat on the chair it was shaking, it wasn’t as long as the one we felt on Dec. 26 last year. Soon, my mom, sister and the maid woke up saying that they too felt the earthquake. After that I tried to send text messages to some of my friends and family, but the network wasn’t working properly — the earthquake must have effected it. Thank god nothing serious happened here in. I hope the rest of the world is safe.
There are a lot more — and expect to see lots of links on the Internet from blogs reporting what went on in their areas.
UPDATE II: The New York Times now quotes Indonesia’s Veep as saying the death toll could rise to up to 2,000 deaths…and those of us living in California should take note. We’ve been seeing all of these earthquakes in Asia. You could say the December quake/tsunami was “the big one” for that part of the world…but Mother Nature has treated us here with relative kid gloves in recent years. How long will this last? (I have earthquake insurance on my condo but it really doesn’t reimburse you that much; and TMV lives near a prominent San Diego fault — and I don’t mean our mayor…)
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.