Kindgo
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Indonesia quake kills 2, hurts dozens
Magnitude of up to 7.7 measured in Aceh province
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Nov. 3 — A massive earthquake with a magnitude of up to 7.7 which rocked Indonesia’s Sumatra island killed two people and injured at least 40, hospital officials said Sunday.
THERE WERE contradictory reports of the quake’s strength. Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said the quake was magnitude 5.6 and was centered onshore.
Australian scientists said they registered an offshore epicenter which was much stronger, registering 7.7, making it a major earthquake capable of widespread, heavy damage. The Hong Kong Observatory and the U.S. Geological Survey both recorded it at 7.5.
Another earthquake with a magnitude of 4.8 struck the same region hours later, Indonesian seismologists said.
More than 4,000 people spent the night in makeshift tents in football fields and mosques fearing more aftershocks. A bridge over a river had collapsed.
At least 48 people, including a 6-year-old girl, were hospitalized on Simeulue island, 250 miles from Sumatra’s northern tip, Simeulue hospital chief Dr. Hanif said. Two people were killed.
“There may be others trapped under rubble. We cannot get to them as the roads are bad,” said Hanif, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. He said the hospital desperately needed oxygen, blankets and tents.
Mark Leonard of Geoscience Australia said the quake had same magnitude as the Gujarat quake in India two years ago, which killed 13,000 people.
He said the temblor was not likely to be as destructive as that quake because it was offshore. The U.S. Geological Survey Web site said the quake was located 13 miles off the coast of northern Sumatra and was nearly 21 miles deep.
Tremors lasting several seconds were felt in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, where people panicked and ran out of buildings, witnesses said. The Aceh province is about 1,100 miles northwest of Jakarta.
Malaysian authorities said the quakes were felt in Kuala Lumpur and disrupted communication systems in the nearby town of Port Kelang.
Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago nation, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire.”
© 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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