What was the intensity of the earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia?”
LATEST: New Zealand aid workers in earthquake-hit Sumatra are safe and well. Aid organisation Surfaid spokesman Phil Dreifuss said a Pedang-based staff member had confirmed by email that “everything is fine”. “She’s also been in contact with staff at our office in Nias, which is very close to the epicentre, and all is well there,” he said. Knowing all staff were safe was a “huge relief”. Surfaid has 120 staff in the region, including two people who had just moved there from Christchurch about a month ago. A powerful 7.8 magnitude shook the northwestern coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra this morning, the US Geological Survey said. It caused widespread panic and tsunami warnings but no major damage. The quake struck off the northwest coast of Sumatra in an area devastated by the massive Asian tsunami of 2004, triggering local warnings and an alert in nearby Thailand. Residents of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, said they felt the earth shudder with frightening intensity
JAKARTA, Indonesia — A 7.7 earthquake shook Indonesia’s northwest island of Sumatra early Wednesday, prompting a brief tsunami warning and sending residents rushing for higher ground. There were scattered reports of injuries, but only minor damage was immediately reported. The quake struck at 5:15 a.m. (2215 GMT) and was centered 125 miles (205 kilometers) northwest of the coastal town of Sibolga in Sumatra at a depth of 19 miles (31 kilometers), the U.S. 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. Six people were hospitalized in Sinabang on Simeulue island with injuries sustained when their homes collapsed, a nurse at the local hospital said. One man was in critical condition. Fauzi, a seismologist at the meteorology agency, said the quake would have “at least caused cracks in many buildin
