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Padang: A second powerful earthquake in as many days jolted Southeast Asia and triggered a regional tsunami warning Thursday, damaging hundreds of buildings along Indonesia's western coast and sending panicked residents running inland or piling into trucks.
At least nine people were killed and 49 injured in the twin tremors, which caused tall buildings to sway in at least three countries, walls creaking as workers ran down crowded stairwells.
On Wednesday, an 8.4-magnitude earthquake off Sumatra, the Indonesian island ravaged by the 2004 tsunami disaster, triggered a small nondestructive wave off the coastal city
of Padang.
Thursday's magnitude-7.8 quake rattled the same area and caused extensive damage.
"Many buildings collapsed after this morning's quake," Padang Mayor Fauzi Bahar told El Shinta radio, among them two car dealerships. Tents were set up outside the main
hospital, where patients were being treated outside. "We're still trying to find out about victims.
Indonesia issued a tsunami warning, lifted it and then reissued it following several strong aftershocks. Australia's Bureau of Meteorology issued an alert that unusual waves could hit Christmas Island early Thursday, but locals said there was no sign of a tsunami about an hour after the predicted time.
"The danger has passed," said Linda Cash, a manager at the Christmas Island Visitors Center, adding that police earlier told people to stay clear of beaches. "There was
no wave or damage or anything."
The US Geological Survey said Thursday's quake, which was centered 185 kilometers southeast of Padang, had a shallow depth of just 10 kilometers and struck at 6:49 a.m.
Rafael Abreu, a geologist with the agency, said it did not appear to be an aftershock from Wednesday's tremor, even though the centers were close.
"It's fairly large itself," he said. "It seems to be a different earthquake."
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii warned Thursday's quake had the potential to generate a destructive regional tsunami along coasts within 1,000
kilometers of the epicenter. It advised authorities to take immediate action to evacuate coastal areas.
Frightened people fled their homes and ran inland, fearing a repeat of the 2004 earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Sumatra that struck a dozen nations around the Indian Ocean. That disaster killing an estimated 230,000 people in a dozen nations, most of them in Aceh province on Sumatra.
Hundreds of houses were destroyed along the coast. Mosques and shopping malls also suffered damage.
One witness, Budi Darmawan, said a three-story building near his office fell. "I saw it with my own eyes," he told El Shinta radio.
Telephone lines and electricity were disrupted across a large swath of Indonesia, making it difficult to get information about damage and casualties.
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