Indonesia Aceh quake - magnitude 8.6 - triggers Indian Ocean tsunami alert

[nancyk58]

MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE IN INDONESIA - MAGNITUDE 8.6 - FEARS OF TSUNAMIS - LATEST: TSUNAMI ALERT LIFTED

 

Magnitude 8.6 earthquake and 1 ensuing quake aka. aftershock having magnitude 8.2 or 8.3 according to Indonesian authorities. Water reciding 10 m and ensuing tsunami.

 

5 m high tsunami washed ashore in ACEH province - no one died and little material damage to property and areas.

 

Tsunami alert was upheld for another 2 hours.

 

Thailand issued tsunami alerts as a 1.6 to 2 m high tsunami is expected to hit Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga, Ranong, Trang and Satun at 17:40 local time (12:40 Central European time).

 

Tv2 News at 14:20: KENYA and TANZANIA ISSUED TSUNAMI ALERTS.

 

The tremors could be felt in SINGAPORE, MALAYSIA and southern INDIA. The broadcaster NDTV reported that the Metro trains stopped and were evacuated in Kolkata aka. Calcutta. (German ARDtext)

 

The tremors could be felt for 5 minutes in Indonesia's capital Jakarta.

 

INDIA issued a tsunami alert after the first tremor - for the island group/archipelago of Andaman and parts of the east coast.

 

Thailand has closed the airport in the holiday island of Phuket due to the massive earthquake in the Indian Ocean off Sumatra / the ACEH province.

 

Around 3PM Central European Time, the US authorities lifted the tsunami alert.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/

 

A tsunami watch for the Indian Ocean is lifted after no significant waves are reported following two earthquakes off the coast of Indonesia

 

 

 

11 April 2012 Last updated at 10:44 GMT

 

An earthquake with a magnitude of 8.6 strikes under the sea off Indonesia's Aceh province, triggering a regional tsunami alert.

 

Indonesia Aceh quake triggers Indian Ocean tsunami alert

 

An earthquake with a magnitude of 8.6 has struck under the sea off Indonesia's northern Aceh province.

 

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) said a tsunami had been generated but its likely impact was not yet clear.

 

It advised national authorities across the Indian Ocean region to "take appropriate action".

 

The region is regularly hit by earthquakes. The Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 killed 170,000 people in Aceh.

 

One official quoted by Reuters said a 17cm (6.7in) tsunami had been generated and was heading for the coast of Aceh.

 

The US Geological Survey (USGS), which documents quakes worldwide, said the Aceh quake was centred 33km (20 miles) under the sea about 495km from Banda Aceh, the provincial capital.

 

It was initially reported as 8.9 magnitude but was later revised down to 8.6 by the USGS. Strong aftershocks were also reported.

 

The BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta says there were reports of the ground shaking for up to five minutes.

 

'Remain vigilant'

 

The PTWC alert said quakes of such a magnitude "have the potential to generate a widespread destructive tsunami that can affect coastlines across the entire Indian Ocean basin".

 

A later alert said that sea level readings indicated a tsunami was generated and that it "may already have been destructive along some coasts".

 

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reports in the capital that there had been no tsunami reports so far, "but we remain vigilant".

 

"Our warning system is working well, and I have ordered the national relief team to fly immediately to Aceh to ensure the situation is under control and to take any necessary action," he said.

 

Bruce Presgrave of the USGS told the BBC that the quake was caused by the earth moving horizontally, rather than vertically, therefore had not displaced large volumes of water.

 

"We can't rule out the possibility, but horizontal motion is less likely to produce a destructive tsunami," he said.

 

Sutopo, a spokesman for Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency, said electricty was down in Aceh and there were traffic jams to access higher ground.

 

"Sirens and Koran recitals from mosques are everywhere," he told Reuters.

 

'Minute of chaos'

 

The earthquake monitoring agency in Indonesia said the tsunami warning would remain in place for another few hours, but that there had been no reports so far of a low tide, which would indicate the water was receding before building into a tsunami.

 

The tremor was felt as far away as Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India.

 

"There was a tremor felt by all of us working in the building," a man called Vincent in Calcutta, India, told the BBC.

 

"All just ran out of the building and people were asked not to use the elevator. There was a minute of chaos where all started ringing up to their family and asking about their well-being."

 

The Thai office of disaster management said people along the coasts of Phuket, Phang Na and Andaman province should heed warnings and evacuate.

 

Tsunami warning sirens, set up in many vulnerable areas after the 2004 disaster, were heard in Phuket, where correspondents said people were calmly following evacuation routes to safe zones.

 

Indonesia straddles the Pacific Ring of Fire, a zone of major seismic activity.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17675399

[chommy_16]

 

I took this pic about over an hour ago from Lipae Island, Indian Ocean near west coast of Stun, Thailand

Everything is back to normal now. No Tsunami

[nancyk58]

^ Luckily the tsunamis were no higher than 80 cm.

 

Danish TV2 News spoke of 3 x 80 cm high tsunami waves.

 

But yesterday early in the afternoon central European time, Danish TV2 News received conflicting news - reports of water receding - an official saying that this was not true - everything had been normal. But Danish TV2 News had received pictures showing places from which the water had receded!!

 

There was a report of a 5m high tsunami on the APEC coast, but luckily it was no higher than 80 cm high.

 

There was some material damage.

 

 

5 KILLED IN EARTHQUAKE IN ASIA (source: TV2 news - text-TV)

 

Yesterday's magnitude 8.6 earthquake generated fear of a gigantic tsunami like the devastating one in December 2004.

 

According to statements from INDONESIA, 5 have been reported killed.

 

"At least 2 people died of heart attach, one died of shock and a child was seriously injured in connection with a falling tree", says Sutopo Purwo Nugroho who is spokesman for an agency. He did not want to elaborate this further.