Earthquake rocks western Indonesia
Story Highlights
# Strong 7.1-magnitude quake strikes western Indonesia
# Quake struck 135 kilometers west of Bengkulu, a coastal town off Sumatra
# It hit 30 kilometers beneath the ocean floor
A woman salvages items from her newly built house at Air Besi in North Bengkulu Thursday.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- A powerful earthquake rocked western Indonesia before dawn Thursday, sending panicked residents fleeing from their homes and briefly triggering a tsunami warning. The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 and struck 85 miles west of Bengkulu, a coastal town on Sumatra island, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was centered 18 miles beneath the ocean floor.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and Japan's Meteorological Agency said there was a small possibility it could trigger a destructive tsunami. But the wave never came, and Indonesian authorities later lifted the alert.
There were no reports of damage after the tremor, which struck at 4 a.m., according to Arizal, a local meteorological official, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name.
Residents in Bengkulu -- still jittery following a series of powerful quakes that struck the region early last month -- fled their homes, el-Shinta radio reported.
Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago with a population of 235 million people, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. A magnitude-9 quake off Sumatra's coast in 2004 triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia.
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Last month, an 8.4-magnitude quake off Bengkulu, followed two tremors measuring 7.8 and 7.1, killed 23 people and destroyed thousands of buildings.
The region has since been hit by hundreds of aftershocks. Suhardjono, a senior official at Indonesia's Meteorological and Geophysics Agency, told el-Shinta that Thursday's tremor was among them.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.
# Strong 7.1-magnitude quake strikes western Indonesia
# Quake struck 135 kilometers west of Bengkulu, a coastal town off Sumatra
# It hit 30 kilometers beneath the ocean floor
A woman salvages items from her newly built house at Air Besi in North Bengkulu Thursday.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- A powerful earthquake rocked western Indonesia before dawn Thursday, sending panicked residents fleeing from their homes and briefly triggering a tsunami warning. The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 and struck 85 miles west of Bengkulu, a coastal town on Sumatra island, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was centered 18 miles beneath the ocean floor.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and Japan's Meteorological Agency said there was a small possibility it could trigger a destructive tsunami. But the wave never came, and Indonesian authorities later lifted the alert.
There were no reports of damage after the tremor, which struck at 4 a.m., according to Arizal, a local meteorological official, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name.
Residents in Bengkulu -- still jittery following a series of powerful quakes that struck the region early last month -- fled their homes, el-Shinta radio reported.
Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago with a population of 235 million people, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. A magnitude-9 quake off Sumatra's coast in 2004 triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia.
advertisement
Last month, an 8.4-magnitude quake off Bengkulu, followed two tremors measuring 7.8 and 7.1, killed 23 people and destroyed thousands of buildings.
The region has since been hit by hundreds of aftershocks. Suhardjono, a senior official at Indonesia's Meteorological and Geophysics Agency, told el-Shinta that Thursday's tremor was among them.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.
Every cloud has a silver lining
Krachtige aardbeving in Indonesië
(Novum/AP) - Onder de zeebodem ten westen van Indonesië heeft donderdag een krachtige aardbeving plaatshad. De aardbeving had een kracht van 7.1 op de schaal van Richter, zei de Amerikaanse geologische dienst, en had plaats 135 kilometer ten westen van de kustplaats Bengkulu op Sumatra.
Inwoners van Bengkulu ontvluchtten hun huizen, meldde de Indonesische radio. Vorige maand werd Bengkulu getroffen door aardschokken die 23 mensen fataal werden. Ook ontstond een kleine tsunami.
De Japanse meteorologische dienst waarschuwde donderdag dat er een kleine kans was op een destructieve tsunami, maar die werd geen realiteit. De Indonesische autoriteiten trokken de uitgevaardigde tsunamiwaarschuwing later weer in.
[Copyright 2007, Novum]
[img width=400 height=320]http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20071025&t=2&i=2030253&w=&r=2007-10-25T015103Z_01_N24363260_RTRUKOP_0_PICTURE0[/img]
©Reuters
(Novum/AP) - Onder de zeebodem ten westen van Indonesië heeft donderdag een krachtige aardbeving plaatshad. De aardbeving had een kracht van 7.1 op de schaal van Richter, zei de Amerikaanse geologische dienst, en had plaats 135 kilometer ten westen van de kustplaats Bengkulu op Sumatra.
Inwoners van Bengkulu ontvluchtten hun huizen, meldde de Indonesische radio. Vorige maand werd Bengkulu getroffen door aardschokken die 23 mensen fataal werden. Ook ontstond een kleine tsunami.
De Japanse meteorologische dienst waarschuwde donderdag dat er een kleine kans was op een destructieve tsunami, maar die werd geen realiteit. De Indonesische autoriteiten trokken de uitgevaardigde tsunamiwaarschuwing later weer in.
[Copyright 2007, Novum]
[img width=400 height=320]http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20071025&t=2&i=2030253&w=&r=2007-10-25T015103Z_01_N24363260_RTRUKOP_0_PICTURE0[/img]
©Reuters
Every cloud has a silver lining
Het meteorologisch instituut in Indonesië heeft het tsunami-alarm opgeheven. Het alarm werd uitgeroepen na een hevige en krachtige aardbeving van 7,1 op de schaal van Richter nabij de oostkust van het eiland Sumatra.
'Het gevaar voor een tsunami is geweken' laat het instituut weten in een persbericht enkele uren na de aardbeving. De aarde beefde rond 4.02 uur lokale tijd in de Indische Oceaan op zo'n 135 kilometer van Bengkulu in Sumatra.
Het 'Pacific Tsunami warning center' in Hawaï had het tsunami-alarm uitgeroepen voor Indonesië. Ook de overige landen rond de Indische Oceaan werden gewaarschuwd.
©HLN
Every cloud has a silver lining
