Indonesia's SumatraIsland was hit by a series of aftershocks yesterday after a powerful earthquake toppled hundreds of buildings, killing at least 10 people and burying many others.
Authorities said the situation was not as bad as first feared, while a seismologist added that the region was lucky to have escaped a tsunami similar to the one triggered by the more than 9 magnitude quake in 2004 that killed over 280,000 people.
The quake only triggered a 3-meter-high wave that slammed into at least one village on Sumatra, the island that was ravaged in 2004. Smaller waves were recorded further down the coast.
"The damage is relatively less" than feared, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters yesterday. "However, we still have to do a thorough assessment. People are better at responding to disasters than in previous years."
Wednesday's initial 8.4 magnitude quake - which took place on the eve of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and was felt in neighboring Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand - cut communication lines and sparked widespread panic in the hours that followed.
That quake and a further 22 tremors ranging in intensity from 4.9 to 7.8 repeatedly set off tsunami warnings in Indian Ocean countries. However there were no reports of major ocean surges hitting coastlines in southeast Asia.
A separate 6.4 tremor was also reported off Sulawesi island, to the east of Sumatra.
"We are grateful for the fact that the situation wasn't as bad as we initially thought it would be," said Muhammad Syamlan, vice-governor of Bengkulu province, whose capital Bengkulu was close to the epicentre of the quake.
A photographer in Bengkulu's provincial capital said the situation appeared calm, with shops re-opening and people milling around. The province, one of Indonesia's key coffee-growing regions, has a population of about 1.57 million.
The roads in north Bengkulu were lined with tents as residents feared more quakes and did not want to return to their damaged homes. People huddled by fires outdoors to keep warm in the drizzling rain.
"When the first quake struck, we ran out of our house. Then we returned to the house to sleep but another big quake hit, so we ran out again. Since then we have been afraid," said Erfan Riyanto, a driver.
Rustam Pakaya, head of the Indonesian health ministry's crisis centre in Jakarta, said 10 people had been killed and 51 injured across the region.
"The North Bengkulu area has been identified as the worst hit with half the area destroyed," he said.
In Bengkulu, nearly 800 houses collapsed and many more were damaged, but the full extent of the quake was still unknown because of the difficulty of reaching or contacting some areas.
(China Daily 09/14/2007 page 7)
Questions:
1. How many people are estimated to have died in the earthquake of 2004?
2. What was the magnitude of the earthquake on Wednesday?
3. Which Indonesian city was near the epicentre of the quake?
Answers:
1. Over280,000.
2. 8.4.
3. Bengkulu.
（英語點津 Linda 編輯）
About the broadcaster:
Marc Checkley is a freelance journalist and media producer from Auckland, New Zealand. Marc has had an eclectic career in the media/arts, most recently working as a radio journalist for NewstalkZB, New Zealand’s leading news radio network, as a feature writer for Travel Inc, New Nutrition Business (UK) and contributor for Mana Magazine and the Sunday Star Times. Marc is also a passionate arts educator and is involved in various media/theatre projects in his native New Zealand and Singapore where he is currently based. Marc joins the China Daily with support from the Asia New Zealand Foundation.
