PADANG, Indonesia – Strong earthquake hits Indonesia; Tsunami smashes Pacific islands
PADANG, Indonesia (Sept 30, 2009): A strong earthquake of magnitude 7.9 struck off the city of Padang on the coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island today, damaging houses, bringing down bridges and starting fires, a witness said.
The quake was felt around the region, with some high-rise buildings in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Singapore, evacuating their staff.
A regional tsunami warning was issued, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre and Japan’s meterological agency said. It was unclear if there were any casualties.
“Hundreds of houses have been damaged along the road. There are some fires, bridges are cut and there is extreme panic here maybe because water pipes are broken and there is flooding in the streets,” said a Reuters witness in the city. Phone lines were down.
The depth of the tsunami was measured at 85 km, the United States Geological Survey said.
Padang, the capital of Indonesia’s West Sumatra province, sits on one of the world’s most active fault lines along the “Ring of Fire” where the Indo-Australia plate grinds against the Eurasia plate to create regular earth tremors and sometimes quakes.
via Sun2Surf.
