Powerful Quake Shakes Sumatra Island In Indonesia, Kills Two

Published on September 6, 2011 by Johnson Minovel · No Comments

A powerful earthquake rocked western Indonesia island of Sumatra, killing at least two people and sent streaming to other shops, hotels, and at least one hospital in a panic.

The 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck on the morning of Tuesday, 100 km southwest of Medan city and 110 kilometers below the earth’s crust, the U.S. Geological Survey.

It was too far offshore to generate a tsunami.

The quake struck at about 1800 GMT, waking people from their sleep in the cities and towns across the northern tip of the island.

Two people, including 11-year-old boy, were killed by falling debris, while some houses and other buildings were damaged, the National Disaster Management Agency said.

Hundreds of people were evacuated to temporary shelters as authorities investigated the extent of damage, said Lt. Col. Kesuma Helmy, head of police in the town of Singkil affected.

Some utility poles were knocked down there, crashing into homes and causing blackouts.

“My wife cried, my cry of the children,” said Burhan Mardiansyah, 37, a resident of Singkil. “We saw the walls begin to crack and everything inside the house was falling. Thank God, we are all safe.”

The panic extended all the way to Medan, the provincial capital in the sprawling northern Sumatra, where hundreds of patients with at least one hospital was evacuated, some in wheelchairs or drops of tea still attached to their weapons.

Hotels emptied and residents ran into the street or the balconies of their rental homes, clutching babies on their chests.

Fearing aftershocks, many refused to go back for hours.

Indonesia combines series of fault lines making it the largest island of the state prone to seismic and volcanic activity.

A massive earthquake off the country’s December 26, 2004 triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, half of them in the western province of Aceh.

Tags: Aceh, Earthquake, Indian Ocean, Indonesia, Medan, Singkil Indonesia, Sumatra, United States Geological Survey