7.9 Magnitude earthquake strikes Indonesia

[BKKBoet]

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.9 struck Indonesia on Wednesday, the U.S Geological Survey said.
The quake was recorded about 33 miles from Padang, Sumatra.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a tsunami watch for Indonesia, India, Thailand and Malaysia.
NOAA could not immediately say whether the quake generated a tsunami, but such advisories are issued when a quake has the potential to cause one.
On Tuesday, a magnitude 8.0 quake -triggered tsunami killed at least 84 in the Samoan islands and Tonga.

[BKKBoet]

Reports say it occurred about 50km offshore of Pedang on Sumatra. If there is a tsunami could be bad..

[BKKBoet]

Tsunami warning cancelled. Nothing to see here, move on.

[The Fresh Prince]

What was the magnitude of the 2004 eathquake in Sumatra?

[English Noodles]

9.3 I think.

[Warwick]

Tsunami warning cancelled. Nothing to see here, move on.

Looks like no one told Neptune. Video of the Tsunami on BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8282741.stm

[chitown]

Phuket canceled their warning.

[BKKBoet]

At least 75 killed in Indonesia quake

• Published: 30/09/2009 at 10:10 PM
• Online news: Breakingnews

At least 75 people were killed by a major earthquake on Indonesia's Sumatra island Wednesday, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said, amid fears for thousands believed trapped in rubble.
"The initial level is 75, but it's certain to be higher than that,'' Kalla told reporters.

[Loy Toy]

There seems to be a hell a lot of subterranean movement at he moment and it must be a worry for those especially with waterfront properties.

[BKKBoet]

Looks like things just got worse; CNN now reports over 500 deaths, could exceed 1000...

[kingwilly]

local paper reports 1,100 deaths, australian news suggests numbers could be as high as 4000.

I recently was in padang, probably even a thread on it here too, most of the buildings are shitty cement blocks of 2 and 3 stories high. I very much doubt any building code was applied in construction.

[kingwilly]

2009 Sumatra earthquakes

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This article documents a current disaster. Information regarding it may change rapidly as it progresses. Though this article is updated frequently, it may not reflect the most current or official information about this disaster for all areas. For the magnitude 6.7 earthquake in August 2009, see August 2009 Sumatra earthquake.
2009 Sumatra earthquakes Date 10:16:10, September 30, 2009 (UTC) (2009-09-30T10:16:10Z) Magnitude 7.6 Mw Depth: 87 kilometres (54 mi) Epicenter location: 1°23′49″S 99°54′00″E / 1.397°S 99.900°E / -1.397; 99.900Coordinates: 1°23′49″S 99°54′00″E / 1.397°S 99.900°E / -1.397; 99.900 Countries/
regions affected Indonesia
Singapore
Malaysia Casualties: at least 1100[1] according to some sources, government reports confirmed 715 dead, 2400 injured [2] Wikinews has related news: Over 700 killed after earthquake in Indonesia The 2009 Sumatra earthquakes occurred just off the southern coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The major shock hit at 17:16:10 local time on September 30, 2009 (10:16:10 UTC)[3] and had a moment magnitude of 7.6.[3] The epicenter was 45 kilometres (28 mi) west-northwest of Padang, Sumatra, and 220 kilometres (140 mi) southwest of Pekanbaru, Sumatra. Death-toll estimates range from a few hundred to over 1100, with thousands more trapped in collapsed buildings.[4][5] Government reports confirmed 716 deaths in West Sumatra and Jambi.[6]
Contents

[hide]

• 1 Background
• 2 Effects
• 3 Responses
• 4 Aftershocks
• 5 References
• 6 External links

[edit] Background

Indonesia is situated within a zone of intense seismic activity known as the "Pacific Ring of Fire". It is located on one of the world's most active fault lines along the "Ring of Fire" where the Indo-Australian Plate is being subducted beneath the Eurasian plate. The subduction creates regular earthquakes. Because of its depth and the computed focal mechanism, the first earthquake is thought to have resulted from deformation within the descending Indo-Australian plate, rather than from movement on the plate boundary itself.[3] The second earthquake has been linked to dextral (right-lateral) movement on the Great Sumatran fault which takes up the strike-slip component of the convergence between the two plates.[7]
[edit] Effects

Tremors from the first earthquakes were felt in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and in Malaysia and Singapore.[8] The management of some high-rise buildings in Singapore evacuated their staff.[9]
A tsunami watch was triggered and there are reports of house damage and fires.[10] Hotels in Padang have been destroyed, and communications to the city were disrupted.[11]
Local news channel Metro TV reported fires in Padang where panicked residents had run onto the streets as the first quake hit. Teams of rescuers from nearby branches of the National Search and Rescue Agency have been deployed to Padang. Large buildings came down in the earthquake. It was also reported that some water pipes in Padang were broken and there was flooding in the street.[12] There have also been reports that at least two hospitals and several schools have collapsed as a result of the earthquake.[13]
Padang's Minangkabau International Airport suffered minor damage, with parts of the ceiling in the boarding area falling down.[14] The airport reopened on 1 October.[15]
[edit] Responses

Indonesian officials have suggested that the death toll is likely to rise sharply, because of the large number of people trapped in collapsed buildings. Authorities have announced that several disaster management teams are en route to Padang although it is likely to take several hours for them to reach more remote areas.[16] Rescue workers pulled dozens of survivors from the rubble and rushed them to Djamil Hospital. The hospital itself was overwhelmed with patients, and many patients were treated in tents set up outside the hospital. Emergency workers searched a 3-story collapsed course building for survivors, finding 4 students alive and recovering 6 bodies. It has been estimated 40 students are still trapped in the rubble. Emergency workers and volunteers continue to search for survivors at the school. At another building, rescue workers passed a water bottle into an opening for a person trapped beneath the rubble. A man was trapped beneath a flattened hotel for 25 hours with a broken leg before rescue workers pulled him free. The Indonesian military has deployed emergency response teams with earth moving equipment to help move rubble and recover trapped victims.[17]
World Vision, Oxfam, IFRC, Muslim Charity and Mercy Corps have confirmed that they are flying their emergency response teams to the devastated Padang area to do the rapid assessment of the catastrophe.[18] The Red Cross is seeking donations to help cover earthquake relief costs.[19] World Vision has also airlifted 2,000 collapsible water containers and will distribute them immediately to the area most affected by earthquake. Additionally World Vision has launch US$ 1 million appeal for the relief effort.[20]
[edit] Aftershocks

Only aftershocks with magnitude 5.0 or higher are listed.[21] Shocks with magnitude 6.0 or higher are highlighted in light blue. The mains shock with moment magnitude 7.6 Mw and 6.6 Mw are highlighted in dark blue.
A second earthquake, which measured 6.6 Mw, struck the province of Jambi in central Sumatra, 08:52:29 local time on 1 October 2009 at a depth of 15 kilometres (9.3 mi), about 46 kilometres south-east of Sungaipenuh. The USGS said the earthquake, although in the same region, was not an aftershock as it was located too far from the initial quake.[22][7]

[nedwalk]

old mother earth is certainly scratching the fleas on her back..so the witch in the house tells me, gotta wonder though with all the siesmic activity in the southern areas,

[Loy Toy]

How much more pain and suffering can these poor souls in Sumatra handle and there seems to be no end to these natural disasters?

Very possibly Australia may have to move over and make room for these poor bastards for humanitarain reasons and if these disasters continue.

[nedwalk]

lotsa room around ALICE..i,m sure the abos won,t mind

[kingwilly]

and now mudslides.....
\

Residents walking along a road affected by a landslide in Koto Timur district in Pariaman. (Reuters Photo)
Hundreds of People Buried By Landslides In 3 Villages

Tandikek, West Sumatra. In a discovery that has turned attention away from the aid effort in Padang city, three entire villages in one valley, along with their estimated 400 inhabitants, were swept away in landslides caused by Wednesday’s earthquake.

Coconut palms and other trees were uprooted and slammed along with tons of mud into homes built on the flanks of surrounding mountains, overlooking rice fields and a river that runs through the valley.

Tandikek village in Padang Pariaman district is one of the areas hardest hit by Wednesday’s magnitude-6.4 quake that devastated parts of West Sumatra.

“I thought it was the end of the world,” 26-year-old Nasirwan recalled. “I was swept away by the moving earth to the river, but I managed to escape instead of being buried.”

Nasirwan’s parents and a niece were not so fortunate. Their bodies have not been found.

His neighbors, teachers and their families who lived in an elementary school complex did not make it either, said Nasirwan, a farmer.

“I have resigned the fate of my family to Allah,” he said, clutching a bag of clothes, his legs covered with mud.

Soldiers, police and civilian rescue teams, equipped with only a single mechanical excavator, dug mounds of earth in the drizzling rain looking for the missing.

They found two bodies on Saturday, bringing the number of people found dead at the location to 20 so far, said district police chief Uden Kusuma.

“We don’t have enough heavy equipment to carry out a rescue operation in such a large area,” he said. “The earth that buried the hamlets is probably tens of metres high, so it’s an uphill task.”

Officials put the number of people buried at between 300 and 400. Survivors said among the victims were people attending a wedding party.

A Japanese rescue team surveyed the site and promised to return with more assistance, the police chief said.

In a nearby village, search teams used chain saws to cut away coconut trees to get at a body buried by a landslide. A stench of decomposing flesh hung in the air.

Manrizal, one of the volunteers, said 17 people in four houses were buried there. “The landslide also buried a 500-meter stretch of a new road,” he said.

Rustam Pakaya, head of the Health Ministry’s Crisis Center, estimated that 3,000 people in the region were still trapped under rubble and said the chances of finding them alive were slim.

Damage in Padang Pariaman appeared to be widespread. Houses crumbled, with only their corrugated tin roofs visible.

Aid has been slow to reach the area and survivors have set up barriers on the roads, begging for donations from motorists.

“Help is extremely scarce,” said Toyo. “Even to get a tent we have to stop an aid convoy and force them to divert supplies to us.”

Padang Pariaman Mayor Mukhlis Rahman acknowledged that survivors had received little assistance so far. The UN World Food Program said it was assessing the needs of the survivors and had not begun delivering foodstuffs.

“We realize in a situation like this, there’s always tension, but we have to be accountable for what we do,” said Mispan Indarjo, a WFP Indonesia senior program assistant.

Nasirwan, the farmer, said he too hoped the government would soon provide aid to his devastated village, although he said he did not intend to live there again.

“I’m not sure if it’s still livable,” he said. “I’ll find some other place to live.”

Deutsche Presse-Agentur