BANDA ACEH: A massive earthquake off Indonesia's western coast triggered a tsunami watch for countries across the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, clogging streets with traffic as residents fled to high ground in cars and on the backs of motorcycles.
Two hours after the quake hit, however, there was no sign of the feared wave. Damage also appeared to be minimal.
The US Geological Survey said the 8.6-magnitude quake was centred 20 miles beneath the ocean floor around 269 miles from Aceh province.
''It wasn't the strongest quake I've felt,'' said 22-year-old Tuti Rahmi, while trying to reach her brother by phone from Banda Aceh, people around her crying and screaming as they poured from their homes.
''But it seemed to last forever,'' she said, adding the ground shook for nearly four minutes.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii said a tsunami watch was in effect for Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Maldives and other Indian Ocean islands, Malaysia, Pakistan, Somalia, Oman, Iran, Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa and Singapore.
But hours later, the threat appeared to have passed.
Roger Musson, seismologist at the British geological survey who has studied Sumatra's fault lines, says the temblor was a strike-slip quake, not a thrust quake, which causes the sea bed to flip up.
''When I first saw this was an 8.7 near Sumatra, I was fearing the worst,'' he said, noting one of the initial reported magnitudes for the quake. ''But as soon as I discovered what type of earthquake it was, then I felt a lot better.''
The tremor was felt in Malaysia, where it caused high-rise buildings to shake for about a minute, and in Singapore, Thailand, Bangladesh and India.
Moreover, British and Australian experts say that the risk of a major tsunami being generated by the giant earthquake off Sumatra on Wednesday appears to be low.
The earthquake's movement was horizontal, not vertical, and caused no apparent movement of the sea floor, which is what triggers tsunamis, Susanne Sargeant, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey (BGS) told AFP.
“We've had two blocks rubbing together, it's called a strike-slip earthquake,” Sargeant said.
“That means there hasn't been any displacement of the sea floor. Although an earthquake of this magnitude has the potential to cause a large tsunami, the fact that we haven't seen any drop of the sea floor, which is what generates the wave, it looks like the possibility of a tsunami being generated is low.”Kevin McCue, director of the Australian Seismological Centre, said the “predominantly strike-slip” movement suggested “any tsunami would be small and local.
There was chaos in the streets of Aceh, where memories of a 2004 tsunami that killed 170,000 people in the province alone, are still raw.
Patients poured out of hospitals, some with drips still attached to their arms. In some places, electricity was briefly cut.
Hours after the temblor, people were still standing outside their homes and offices, afraid to go back inside.
There were several strong aftershocks.
''I was in the shower on the fifth floor of my hotel,'' Timbang Pangaribuan told El Shinta radio from the city of Medan.
''We all ran out. ... We're all standing outside now.''
He said one guest was injured when he jumped from the window of his room.
Thailand's National Disaster Warning Centre issued an evacuation order to residents in six provinces along the country's west coast, including the popular tourist destinations of Phuket, Krabi and Phang-Nga.
India's Tsunami Warning Centre issued a warning for parts of the eastern Andaman and Nicobar islands. In Tamil Nadu in southern India, police cordoned off the beach and used loudspeakers to warn people to leave the area.
Satheesh Shenoi, director of the Indian National Centre for Ocean information Services, said the chance of a tsunami was diminishing.
''There are no indications of tsunami wave; the instruments are not showing any sea level change,'' he said.
The quake was felt in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where many people in the city's commercial Motijheel district left their offices and homes in panic and ran into the streets. No damage or causalities were reported.
In Male, the capital of the Maldives, buildings were evacuated.
Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.
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