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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Tsunami / Quake Strikes Indonesia Again: Death Toll Rising |
| 2005-03-29 |
| A THREE-metre wave smashed into the Indonesian island of Simeuleu, off the coast of Sumatra, causing extensive damage shortly after a massive earthquake, a military official said today. Endang Suwaraya, the military commander in the western Indonesian province of Aceh, close to the epicentre of the 8.7-magnitude quake, said he had received reports the wharf in the island's main port was badly damaged. He said waves also affected the island's airport in the coastal town of Sinabang. Earlier today, Hong Kong seismologists reported registering a 5.7-magnitude aftershock near the area of this morning's major quake. According to the Indonesian Government, the quake may have killed up to 2000 people on the island of Nias. The tremor was one of the biggest of the past 100 years, struck at 2.15am (AEST) and sparked widespread fears of tsunamis similar to the Boxing Day giant waves that killed more than 270,000 people. At least 300 people have been confirmed dead in western Indonesia, and there are fears thousands more are trapped in buildings that collapsed on Nias, a renowned surfing haven. Indonesia's Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said today that the death toll on the island was likely between 1000 and 2000 people. Surfaid - understood to be the only aid group operating there - is trying to make contact with its team of about 10 people. A spokesman for the organisation said the team comprised both New Zealanders and Indonesians, including several doctors, but no Australians. He said they were operating in rural areas outside the main towns in response to the devastation caused by the Boxing Day tsunami. Destruction Meanwhile, an entire town on the south-western coast of Indonesia's Aceh province has been levelled, according to the state Antara news agency. More than 10,000 people fled their homes in Aceh Singkil, which was spared by the December 26 tsunami, after the earthquake, Antara said. There were no details of any casualties. The agency said the town centre was devastated, with private and public buildings either cracked or collapsed, electricity poles and supply down and large cracks appearing on roads and streets. Aceh Singkil lies on the other side of the epicentre of yesterday's quake from the outlying Nias island. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has cancelled tomorrow's scheduled state visit to Australia because of the emergency. Soon after the quake struck at around 2.15am AEST, scientists warned of possible 5m waves striking the coast of Western Australia. The tsunami alert was cancelled as large waves failed to materialise, but the Bureau of Meteorology has warned people on or near the water off the WA coast to take caution because of unusual currents or tidal activity. The undersea quake measuring up to 8.7 led India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, among others, to join Indonesia in issuing public warnings of imminent tsunamis. In towns around the rims of the Indian Ocean, alerts rang out on television, radio, by police loud hailer and by alarmed residents ringing bells to tell people in areas devastated by the December 26 tsunamis, caused by a 9.0-magnitude quake also off northwest Indonesia. Nias, an island of 500,000 people, was already struggling to recover from the earlier tsunami, which caused widespread damage and left many people without homes and food. The quake brought back fresh memories of the December 26 disaster in which an undersea quake triggered giant waves 15m high that sped across the Indian Ocean at speeds of up to 700km per hour and slammed into 11 countries, killing more than 273,000 people. Mass evacuations Tremors shook many parts of Sumatra for three minutes, witnesses said, and rocked buildings in the neighbouring countries of Malaysia and Singapore where people fled high-rise buildings. "When the earthquake happened, I rode my motorcycle to the airport because I was very afraid the tsunami would hit again," said university student Heri in Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia's devastated Aceh province. Others tried to reach nearby hills, as the screams of children echoed through streets that were temporarily plunged into darkenss by a power outage. In northwestern Sri Lanka witnesses said people ran to temples and churches where bells were rung to warn people to run to high ground. In the resorts of southwest Thailand holidaymakers fled hotels as television flashed warnings. Hundreds of people, with children yanked from their beds and still wearing pajamas, gathered at the town hall on the Thai island of Phuket, sleeping on the lawn and in pickups. Thai television showed people mounting motorcycles and climbing into pickup trucks as bumper to bumper traffic clogged the streets leaving Phuket's Patong beach. Shopkeepers scrambled to secure their goods, while fishermen took their boats out to sea in hopes of riding out any possible waves and saving their livelihoods. In India's Tamil Nadu state radio channels warned people to move away from the ocean. In the town of Kanyakumari, a priest said people started rushing out of their homes as soon as television channels flashed news of the alert. Governments have pledged to create a high-tech tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean by mid-2006 to prevent a repeat of the disaster. Kerry Sieh, a seismologist with the US Geological Survey, said the quake measured 8.7 on the Richter Scale and was one of the five biggest earthquakes in the past 100 years. It struck some 245km southwest of the coast of Sumatra. "People are very tense as they fear that another tsunami is going to hit our coasts. Many of our fishermen have gone to the sea and we are praying for their safe return," Xavier Lawrence, priest of St Alex's church, said. The quake caused tsunami alerts as far away as the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius and Madagascar, which is over 4000km from the epicentre. |
| Posted by:God Save The World |
| #2 Funny that--- they were always insisting that facism and tsunanamis were descending on the United States, but it looks like they actually land somethwere else. |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2005-03-29 12:24:13 PM |
| #1 Having just read the article that a Muslim Scholar (Is that an Oxymoron?)predicts the United States will come to an end in 2007 by flood. And now reading that Indonesia has been hit by earthquake and tidal wave for the second time in three months. And looking up the principal religion of Indonesia (Muslim). The inescapable conclusion is that the Muslim Scholar has both his Nations and Religions to be destroyed exactly backwards. as well as having his time frame seriously off Bye, Bye Islam. |
| Posted by: Threque Uloluns4886 2005-03-29 9:10:48 AM |