A massive earthquake hit Indonesia yesterday, triggering a tsunami in the town of Padang and warnings for much of the Indian Ocean region, meteorological officials said. tAt least two people were killed and 100 others injured.
The 8.2-magnitude quake off Sumatra badly damaged buildings along the coast and caused tall buildings to sway in a least four countries. It struck at a depth of around 10km, the US Geological Survey said.
A wave of up to 3m was reported to have hit Padang about 20 minutes after the quake, said Suhardjono, a senior official with Indonesia's meteorological agency, adding that a communication blackout was making it difficult to get more information.
Several buildings along the coastline were damaged or collapsed, residents said, and phone lines and electricity also were cut.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for wide areas of the region.
"Earthquakes of this size have the potential to generate a widespread destructive tsunami that can affect coastlines across the entire Indian Ocean Basin," it said, warning that it could hit nearby countries within one to three hours.
Indonesia lifted its alert more than two hours after the 6:10pm quake, saying there was no longer a potential for a destructive wave.
However, it later issued a new tsunami warning after a fresh earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale hit south Sumatra.
The second quake was one of a series of powerful aftershocks that rocked the area last night.
The meteorological agency said via telephone text message that the second quake struck 76km northwest of Lais Bengkulu in south Sumatra at a depth of 18km.
At least one person was killed and dozens injured in Bengkulu, the town closest to the epicenter of the first quake, Salamun Harius, a local government official, told El Shinta radio.
Panicked residents were running from their houses in all directions.
"We think our neighborhood is high enough. God willing, if the water comes, it will not touch us here," Wati Said said by mobile telephone. "We are all afraid."
Office workers streamed down the stairwells in Jakarta, 600km away.
But the quake also caused tall buildings to sway in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
An official of Thailand's National Disaster Warning Center, Passakorn Khanthasap, said the center had sent out cellphone text messages to hundreds of officials working in six southern provinces to be on alert.
The Indian government issued a tsunami alert for the Andaman and Nicobar islands, some of which are just 240km north of Sumatra, and officials were telling local authorities to take precautions.
Sri Lanka's Tsunami Warning Center asked all people living close to the sea to move at least 200m from the coast.
"This earthquake has occurred on the well-known Indonesian tectonic zone, which generates earthquakes of this size on a regular basis, so it comes as no surprise," seismologist Alice Walker of the British Geological Survey said in a statement.
A massive Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake triggered a tsunami off the coast of Sumatra that killed more than 160,000 in a dozen nations, most of them in Indonesia's Aceh Province.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS