Indonesia struck by earthquake.

devastating

BBC version: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4125481.stm

Earthquake rocks north Indonesia

A huge earthquake has hit the northern part of Indonesia's Sumatra island, killing nine people, toppling buildings and creating tidal waves, reports say.
Panicked people have reportedly fled their homes in the towns of Medan and Banda Aceh, the capitals of two of the island's provinces.

The US Geological Survey measured the quake at 8.5 magnitude.

Indonesia's geological position - along the Pacific "Ring of Fire" - makes it prone to earthquakes and volcanoes.

Electricity and telephone networks in the area have stopped working, making it difficult to confirm the extent of the damage, the BBC's Rachel Harvey in Jakarta reports.

Ground shaking

Indonesia's worst-hit region appears to be Aceh, a strife-torn province on Sumatra's northern-most tip which has seen heavy clashes between government soldiers and separatist rebels.

Several houses in the towns of Banda Aceh and Lhokseumawe are said to have been damaged or washed away in flash floods.

A witness interviewed by a local radio station reported seeing nine bodies in Banda Aceh, where part of the town's largest hotel is said to have collapsed.

"The ground was shaking for a long time," another witness told the radio station.

The impact of the earthquake has been recorded as far afield as the Thai capital, Bangkok, and Singapore.

In November, 29 people died when an earthquake struck Indonesia's eastern province of Papua.


Sydney Morning Herald: http://www.smh.com.au/news/Environment/Nine-killed-as-earthquake-hits-Indonesia/2004/12/26/1103996424947.html

And - Australia's ABC says it is smaller - 6.4....?????


Earthquake damages Sumatra towns
An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale has rocked the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, with residents reporting damage and possible casualties.

The earthquake hit at around 7:59am local time, and was centred nine kilometres south-east of the Northern Sumatra town of Padding Sidempuan.

It occurred at a depth of 160 kilometres under the surface.

Budi Waluyo, of the Jakarta Meteorology and Geophysics Office, says the temblor was felt in various cities and towns in Aceh, North Sumatra and West Aceh.

A reporter of the private ElShinta radio says that the earthquake has caused substantial damage in Banda Aceh.

The report says a hotel has partially collapsed and there are cracks on the road.

There are unconfirmed reports of casualties when the buildings collapsed.

A witness also told the radio from Sigli, in Aceh's Pidie district, that the quake caused the dome of the main mosque there to collapse.

The witness says that there have been no reports of any casualties.

The temblor was also felt in the North Sumatra province capital of Medan, sparking panic among the population.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1272406.htm

Aaagh - Aceh is bad - they have been racked by horrible violence between religions....

Wasn't there recently another 8+ earthquake somewhere in the ocean?

USGS Worldwide Earthquake Activity[/i][/u]

University of Edinburgh (UK): World Wide Earthquake Locator

WorldNewsNetwork: Earthquake News

Between Oz and Antarctica.

From Reuters:

News worsening:

Death toll nears 200 after quake, tsunamis strike southern Asia

A massive earthquake off northern Indonesia has unleashed giant tidal waves and flash floods across southern Asia, leaving at least 196 people dead and hundreds more missing.

The quake, which Indonesian seismologists said measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, struck in the Indian ocean south-west of Aceh province on Sumatra Island and sparked panic across the region.

Sri Lanka's eastern and southern coastline was one of the worst hit areas, with rescuers saying at least 162 people had been killed by tidal waves that battered villages.

Police in India said at least 26 people died when a wall of water caused by the the quake struck the country's south-eastern shores.

Sri Lankan relief official M.D. Rodrigo said workers found at least 150 bodies in the Muslim village of Muttur while another 10 were found in the town of Trincomalee which went under several feet of sea water.

A large number of people were also believed to be missing.

BBC reporter Roland Buerk was in southern Sri Lanka when the waves struck.

"We made our way out of the hotel through the incredible rushing waters," he said.

"First of all we climbed up into a tree for a couple of minutes, but then that began to fall down because of the water. We were swept along for a few hundred metres, tried to dodge the motorcycles and refrigerators and the cars that were coming with it and finally about 300 metres inshore we managed to get hold of a pillar which we held onto and then the waters gradually began to subside.

"But this has caused incredible devastation here, there are cars in trees, buildings destroyed."

Tsunamis in the southern Thailand resort of Phuket meanwhile left at least 10 people dead, 200 wounded and several others missing.

Western Australian MP John Hyde is holidaying in Phuket and he says the tidal waves caught people off guard.

"People are doubly stunned because at 8:00am, when the first earthquake came, a couple of people came out and talked, and people seemed to go back for breakfast or go down to the beach and then two hours later, bang, the first tidal wave came through," he said.

"Out of nowhere, suddenly the streets are awash and people just running and screaming from the beach. Our hotel is about 150 metres from the beach, and the water was lapping on the doorsteps, one metre above the road."

Mr Hyde says some people began moving inland, fearing more tidal waves to come.

He says there is widespread destruction along the coast.

"All the windows are blown-in, debris everywhere, there's a jeep wedged between two coconut trees, the main street of Patong is still under about half a metre of water," he said.

Perth man Simon Morse was in a Phuket pub watching the cricket when he saw a massive wave crash over Patong Beach.

"There were still people running away at that point in time," he said.

"People were getting swept along, still on their motorbikes on the side. There were cars that had been picked up by the storm surge and they were getting pushed down the road, taking things out as they went.

"There were also people getting swept down the middle of the road in the water."

The Australian Embassy in Bangkok says there are no reports of any Australians dead or missing on the Thai resort island of Phuket.

Unconfirmed reports said at least 15 people had been killed in Indonesia.

Waves up to five metres high hit the coast of Aceh forcing hundreds to flee to higher ground. Witnesses said the toll was expected to rise.

In Aceh, a region currently closed off to foreign media and aid agencies due to a long-running separatist conflict, there were unconfirmed reports of casualties, with buildings including a mosque and a hotel collapsing.

A reporter from the private ElShinta radio said the earthquake caused substantial damage in provincial capital Banda Aceh, including the partial collapse of Kuala Tripa hotel and several shops as well as cracks on the road.

Reports differed on the the exact location and size of the quake.

The US Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Centre put the tremor at 8.5, which would make it one of the largest in history, off the west coast of Sumatra while the Strasbourg Observatory in France said the tremor hit 8.0 and was located north of the island.

Jakarta's Meteorology and Geophysics Office put the quake at 6.8 saying it was centred in the Indian Ocean, 149 kilometres south of Meulaboh, a town on the western coast of Aceh.

The office said there were reports of tsunamis, collapsed bridges and downed powerlines. They said telephone lines were also down, making communications with the region difficult.

First Lieutenant Suyitno of Aceh's south western Sigli district police said water began to rise about 30 minutes after the quake and added that hundreds of people residing near the coast or along rivers had evacuated.

Suyitno said there were no report of casualties yet and that the depth of the flood was around one metre.

Similar conditions were also reported in the coastal town of Lhokseumawe, in North Aceh district, 216 kilometres east of Banda Aceh.

The state Antara news agency said several shops under construction in the Beurawe area of Banda Aceh collapsed and search teams were searching for possible victims -- construction workers who might have been in the buildings.

The quake was also felt in the North Sumatra province capital of Medan, sparking panic among the population. But the meteorology office in Medan said that there were no reports of any damage or casualties.

The tremors were felt as far away as the Thai capital Bangkok, 1,500 kilometres north of the epicentre, where buildings swayed but no serious damage was reported.

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 18,000 islands, lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" noted for its volcanic and seismic activity, and is one of the world's most earthquake-prone regions.

Lying at the collision point of three tectonic plates results in frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as pressure between the massive segments of the Earth's crust is released.

Last month a succession of powerful earthquakes struck Alor island in eastern Indonesia, killing 26 people.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is checking on the welfare of Australians in the region.

Concerned relatives can call DFAT's 24-hour consular emergency hotline on 1300 555 135.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1272406.htm

Ha! ABC now saying 6.8 - odd.

Latest ABC report now says 650 feared dead:

650 feared dead after quake, tsunami hits southern Asia
A huge earthquake has hit southern Asia, setting off a tsunami that drowned hundreds in Sri Lanka and India, sent Indonesians rushing to high ground and washed away bathers on the Thai tourist island of Phuket.

The earthquake of magnitude 8.9 as measured by the US Geological Survey first struck at 7:59am local time off the coast of the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra and swung north with multiple tremors into the Andaman islands in the Indian Ocean.

The US Geological Survey says it is the fifth biggest earthquake since 1900.

A wall of water up to 10 metres high set off by the tremor swept into Indonesia, over the coast of Sri Lanka and India and along the southern Thai tourist island of Phuket, leaving at least 650 people feared dead, officials said.

The earthquake was the world's biggest since 1965, said Julie Martinez, geophysicist for the US Geological Survey.

"It is multiple earthquakes along the same faultline," she said.

Sri Lanka

The worst-hit area appeared to be the tourist region of Sri Lanka's south and east and the chairman of the John Keells hotel chain said five of his hotels had been badly flooded.

At least 500 were feared dead in Sri Lanka, the National Disaster Management Centre said.

The country's president has declared a national disaster.

"The Army and the Navy have sent rescue teams, we have deployed over four choppers and half the Navy's eastern fleet to look for survivors," said military spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake.

An official in eastern Trincomalee said 3,000 people had been displaced and six villages destroyed.

Thailand

In Phuket at least one person was killed, four were missing and 100 injured when the wave, 5 to 10 metres high, crashed onto beaches lined with luxury hotels at the peak of the tourist season.

"Nothing like this has ever happened in our country before," said Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

"There was a very large ocean wave after the earthquake and about 100 people were injured," Suparerk Tansriratanawong, director general of Thailand's Meteorological Department, told Reuters.

More than 10 people were killed and 100 injured or missing in the southern Thai province of Phang Nga.

The Prime Minister called for the evacuation of areas hit by a tsunami wave in three southern provinces, including Phuket.

"I have ordered that rescue officials move people out of the risk area," Mr Thaksin told reporters.

Officials now say 84 are dead and 400 wounded in southern Thailand.

The Australian Embassy in Bangkok says there are no reports of any Australians dead or missing in Phuket.

India

Along the southern Indian coast, as many as 74 people were killed and many injured by a tsunami there, hospital and government officials said.

Officials said 400 fishermen were missing in the south.

"Thirty-four are dead and 14 are admitted in hospital," said an official at the Government Royapettah Hospital in Chennai, formerly known as Madras and the capital of Tamil Nadu state.

Dozens more were dead in Prakasam district in southern Andhra Pradesh and in Machalipatnam district, taking the total death toll in the state to 40, officials said.

Two people died and some 100 people were hurt in the capital of India's Andaman islands when tidal waves hit, the state's chief secretary said.

Maldives

The wave swept into the low-lying Maldive islands whose coral atolls are a magnet for tourists, flooding two-thirds of the capital Male, said chief government spokesman Dr Ahmed Shaheed.

"The damage is considerable. The island is only about three feet above sea level and a wave of water four feet high swept over us," he said.

"It is a very bad situation. It is terrible," he said.

"We have no communications with some of the outlying atolls. At this stage we fear the worst. We are trying to send boats to assess the damage, but our resources are stretched to the limit."

The world's worst tsunami in recent history struck on July 17, 1998, when three tsunamis ripped through Papua New Guinea's northwest coast, killing 2,500. .........

Full account:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1272447.htm

Jakarta Post story:

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20041226134730&irec=2

Melbourne Age account:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Breaking-News/Killer-quake-floods-Asia/2004/12/26/1103996431629.html

Latest BBC figures:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4125481.stm

Sri Lanka: 500 dead
India: 500 dead
Thailand: 55 dead
Indonesia: 100 dead
Malaysia: 7 dead

Pictures:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4125643.stm

BBC audio now saying thousands confirmed dead - Sri Lanka especially hard-hit - natural disaster confirmed - also many dead in India.

Death toll has surpassed 2200.




http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041226/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_earthquake

Australian ABC latest report:

Thousands feared dead after huge Asian quake
More than 2,000 people were feared killed and hundreds more were missing feared dead today after a huge earthquake off northern Indonesia triggered giant tidal waves and flash floods across western Asia.

The quake, one of the largest in history and measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale, struck in the Indian ocean south-west of Aceh province on Sumatra island and unleashed massive destruction throughout the region.

South Asia was the worst hit region, with at least 2,000 deaths reported by Sri Lanka and India.

The Sri Lankan Government declared a state of disaster as at least 1,000 people were killed after huge waves battered the country's eastern and southern coastlines, swamping entire villages.

Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who is in London, was expected to cut short her holiday and return home, a spokesman for her office said, adding she was also appealing for international help.

Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil told the Press Trust of India around 1,000 people were dead in south India.

In Indonesia, government officials said at least 150 had been killed but warned they expected the death toll to rise substantially.

Popular resorts crowded with Christmas revellers in Thailand and Malaysia were also devastated by tsunamis.

At least 99 people were killed and more than 1,300 were wounded in southern Thailand, with many of the deaths occurring in the idyllic tourist islands of Phuket and Phi Phi.

A police officer in Phuket said at least six of the dead were foreigners who drowned on Karon beach on the island's west coast.

The death toll was likely to rise with several officials reporting over Thai radio and television that beachgoers and villagers had gone missing.

Police said 31 people had died in nearby Krabi on Thailand's southern mainland, at least 11 were killed on tiny Phi Phi.

In Malaysia, six people drowned and several others were missing after being swept away by a tidal wave in the north-western resort island of Penang, a popular destination with foreign tourists, police and rescue officials said.

The victims were swimming off the popular Batu Ferringhi beach when the wave hit, a police spokesman told AFP on condition of anonymity.

He said five bodies had been recovered and identified as Malaysians.

The Indian Ocean tourist paradise of the Maldives was hit by tidal waves, inundating low-lying islands, but there were no immediate reports of casualties, officials said.

Residents of the Maldivian capital, Male, contacted by telephone, said most of the capital was flooded.

Indonesian authorities said they expected the death toll to rise as villagers scoured the coast for others missing since waves measuring up to 10 metres swept along northern Aceh province.

"According to villagers whom I talked to, the waves were up to 10 meters in height," Mustofa Gelanggang, the head of Aceh's Bireuen district told AFP.

"The wave swept all settlements on the coast, and most houses, on stilts and made of wood, were either swept away or destroyed.

"Some areas were under between two and three meters of water for about two hours," he said.

Aceh, a region currently closed off to foreign media and aid agencies due to a long-running separatist conflict, saw unconfirmed reports of casualties, with buildings including a mosque and a hotel collapsing.

A reporter from the private ElShinta radio said that the earthquake caused substantial damage in the provincial capital Banda Aceh, including the partial collapse of Kuala Tripa hotel and several shops as well as cracks on the road.

Reports differed on the the exact location and size of the quake.

The US Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Centre initially put the tremor at 8.5 but revised it upwards to 8.9, while the Strasbourg Observatory in France said the tremor hit 8.0 and was located north of Sumatra.

Jakarta's Meteorology and Geophysics Office put the quake at 6.8 saying it was centred in the Indian Ocean some 149 kilometre south of Meulaboh, a town on the western coast of Aceh.

The tremors were felt as far away as the Thai capital Bangkok, some 1,500 kilometres north of the epicentre, where buildings swayed but no serious damage was reported.

Guests of a high-rise hotel reported chandeliers swinging, according to a manager of the city's Conrad Hotel, while the Charoen Krung Pracha Rak Hospital evacuated all 400 of its patients as a precaution.

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 18,000 islands, lies on the Pacific ring of fire noted for its volcanic and seismic activity, and is one of the world's most earthquake-prone regions.

Lying at the collision point of three tectonic plates results in frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as pressure between the massive segments of the earth's crust is released.

-AFP

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Related Stories
650 feared dead after quake, tsunami hits southern Asia
300 Sri Lankan convicts escape as tsunami destroys jail
Tidal waves kill 1,000 in south India: home minister


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1272479.htm

Some graphic photos. Caution should be exercised before viewing.

http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?p=earthquake&ei=UTF-8&c=news_photos

Death toll increases.
I am so sad. So darn sad.

FACT BOX

SRI LANKA
Over 1,700 killed by tsunamis in eastern districts of Batticaloa and Trincomalee, and the southern resort city of Galle.

INDIA
At least 1,000 killed by tidal waves which flooded the southern coast, interior minister says.

INDONESIA
Closer to the epicenter, over 100 people were killed in Aceh, in northern Sumatra

THAILAND
At least 14 missing and presumed dead in the southern Thailand resort island of Phuket, eyewitnesses say.

MALDIVES
At least three children reported killed in the high waters on an island north of the capital, Male.

Some countries requesting urgent aid.

I hope Oz is on top of it fast!

Countries affected:



CARE analysis so far:

CARE assessing emergency needs after southern Asia earthquake
26 Dec 2004 12:16:00 GMT

Source: NGO latest
AC Hekkens


CARE International Secretariat
Website: http://www.care.org
CARE is initiating assessment of the emergency needs of thousands of victims of today's massive earthquake off the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale, the earthquake caused giant tidal waves and flash floods across southern Asia, potentially leaving thousands of people dead and many thousands more affected.

'The situation appears serious, especially on the south and eastern coast of Sri Lanka,' says Titon Mitra, CARE International Emergencies Response director.

The earthquake, which struck at 7.59 a.m. local time, caused a ten-metre-high wall of water to sweep into Indonesia, the Maldives, over the coasts of Sri Lanka and India and along the southern Thai tourist Island of Phuket. CARE International has had long standing operations in India, Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. CARE Emergencies director Mitra: 'CARE's Country Offices across the region are assessing the situation and monitoring the needs of those affected. The death toll is expected to rise.'

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/110406381374.htm

3000 feared killed as quake, tsunamis hit Asia
December 26, 2004 - 10:55PM/SMH


People walk through debris after their houses were destroyed in tidal waves on the coastal areas in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Photo: AP

A huge earthquake hit southern Asia today, setting off a tsunami that drowned hundreds in Sri Lanka and India, sent Indonesians rushing to high ground and washed away bathers on the Thai tourist island of Phuket.

The earthquake of magnitude 8.9 as measured by the US Geological Survey first struck at 7.59am (1159 AEDT) off the coast of the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra and swung north with multiple tremors into the Andaman islands in the Indian Ocean.... <cont.>

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/3000-feared-killed-as-quake-tsunamis-hit-Asia/2004/12/26/1103996430892.html