A magnitude 7.7 earthquake shook Indonesia’s northwest island of Sumatra early yesterday, prompting a brief tsunami warning and sending panicked residents rushing for higher ground.
There were scattered reports of injuries, but only minor damage in most areas.
The quake struck at 5:15am local time and was centered 205km northwest of the coastal town of Sibolga in Sumatra at a depth of 31km, the US Geological Survey said. It had earlier said the quake measured 7.8.
Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu issued tsunami warnings following the quake, but lifted them two hours later.
A hospital on the island of Simeulue off the coast of Sumatra admitted 17 people for treatment of injuries sustained in the quake, including four in critical condition, said Captain Ajas Siagian, a deputy police chief for the area.
Abdul Karim, a government spokesman in Simeulue, said dozens of houses collapsed or were damaged in Teupah Selatan village. He said no larger buildings were reported damaged, but electricity had been knocked out on the island.
“We are still collecting reports of damages and injuries ... but the situation has returned to normal and people are going back home,” he said.
Local network Metro TV reported a dormitory for nurses partially collapsed in Aceh Province’s district of Singkil and one woman suffered minor injuries in the rush to get out of the building. It said fires sparked by the quake had burned at least 14 houses in Medan, the capital city of North Sumatra Province.
Electricity was cut in Medan, Banda Aceh, the provincial capital of Aceh and other areas.
Paulus Prihandojo, another seismologist with the meteorology agency, said along with the quake’s relative depth, the epicenter was too far away from the major population centers of Medan and Banda Aceh to cause major damage.
He said areas closer to the epicenter were more sparsely populated and many of the buildings in that area were made of wood, which fares better in earthquakes than brick and cement.
At least five strong aftershocks measuring up to 5.2 were recorded, the meteorology agency said.
People in several cities along the southeastern coast of Sumatra as well as Sinabang on Simeulue island and Gunung Sitoli on nearby Nias island poured into the streets and rushed to higher ground after the quake.
“Rumors about a tsunami panicked villagers living near the beach,” said Eddy Effendi, a resident on Nias island. “They ran away on motorbikes and cars or by climbing the hills. There was panic and chaos everywhere, but I don’t see serious damage or injuries in my village.”
Residents in Sibolga said the shaking lasted more than a minute and utility poles in the area were knocked down.
The quake was felt as far away as the outskirts of Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur, about 515km away. There were no reports of damage there.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not