|
Bengkulu, Indonesia: Indonesia's Sumatra island was hit by a series of aftershocks on Thursday after a powerful earthquake toppled hundreds of buildings, killing at least 10 people and burying many others.
Authorities said the situation was not as bad as first feared, while a seismologist added the region was lucky to have escaped a tsunami similar to the one triggered by the more than nine magnitude quake in 2004 that killed over 280,000 people.
"The damage is relatively less [than feared]", President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters yesterday. "However, we still have to do a thorough assessment. People are better at responding to disasters than in previous years."
Wednesday's initial 8.4 magnitude quake - which took place on the eve of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and was felt in neighbouring Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand - cut communication lines and sparked widespread panic in the hours that followed.
That quake and a further 22 tremors ranging in intensity from 4.9 to 7.8 repeatedly set off tsunami warnings in Indian Ocean countries. However there were no reports of major ocean surges hitting coastlines in southeast Asia.
"There was a tsunami created by the earthquake. It just travelled in a southwest direction away from land," said Mike Turnbull at Central Queensland University.
A separate 6.4 tremor was also reported off Sulawesi island, to the east of Sumatra.
"We are grateful for the fact that the situation wasn't as bad as we initially thought it would be," said Mohammad Syamlan, vice governor of Bengkulu province, whose capital Bengkulu was close to the epicentre of the quake.
A photographer in Bengkulu's provincial capital said the situation appeared calm, with shops re-opening and people milling around. The province, one of Indonesia's key coffee-growing regions, has a population of about 1.57 million.
The roads in north Bengkulu were lined with tents as residents feared more quakes and did not want to return to their damaged homes. People huddled by fires outdoors to keep warm in the drizzling rain.
"When the first quake struck, we ran out of our house. Then we returned to the house to sleep but another big quake hit, so we ran out again. Since then we have been afraid," said Erfan Riyanto, a driver.
Rustam Pakaya, head of the Indonesian health ministry's crisis centre in Jakarta, said 10 people had been killed and 51 injured.
Aid groups rush to assess damage
Aid agencies rushed teams to assess the damage on Indonesia's Sumatra island yesterday.
They said they were impressed with the speed of the evacuation from coastal areas as tsunami warnings were repeatedly issued and lifted for Indian Ocean countries after the magnitude 8.4 quake and subsequent tremors.
Damage was not as bad as initially feared.
"Our initial assessment is that the government will be able to cope," said UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokeswoman Elizabeth Byrs from Geneva. "But our team is still on standby and will go if needed."
Aid workers said initial surveys had been largely limited to the town of Bengkulu, where some buildings had collapsed. There was little news from rural areas.
"It seems in the town there is a good response organised by the Indonesian government in terms of primary health services, tents and shelter," Oxfam's Sebastien Fesneau said from Jakarta.
"But we have less information on coastal areas. There are some areas that have apparently been more damaged than others."
Red Cross volunteers set up temporary medical centres, but the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said Indonesia's own Red Cross society seemed able to cope and there was no need for an international response.
|
