March 6, 2007

Dual Indonesian Earthquakes Today

There were two earthquakes today underneath the island of Sumatra. The tremors were felt as far away as Singapore (where I live) and peninsular Malaysia (to our north). In Singapore, the tremors were felt primarily in the financial district (where I work) and I've also heard that people on the east side of the island felt them as well. Some of the buildings in this area were evacuated, but ours was not. I myself didn't feel the tremors, but then again, I work on the third floor of the building. If our offices had been higher upstairs, perhaps we would have felt them. So, to make a long story short, I'm perfectly fine; nothing's wrong here. However, please do make dua for the people of Sumatra. From Bloomberg:

Two earthquakes greater than magnitude 6 struck Indonesia's Sumatra island within two hours of each other, killing at least 13 people and destroying some houses and shops.

A magnitude 6.3 quake struck west Sumatra at 10:49 a.m. local time 49 kilometers (30 miles) north-northeast of Padang city and 424 kilometers southwest of Singapore, the U.S. Geological Survey said. A second quake of magnitude 6.1 hit the same area two hours later. There was no tsunami warning issued because the temblors occurred inland.

...

Both earthquakes were felt as far away as Singapore, where downtown office buildings shook.

"I can't recall (this happening) in my so many years in Shenton Way, and it happened twice today already," said Song Seng Wun, regional economist at CIMB-GK Securities in Singapore. Song has worked in the city-state's financial sector since 1990. Shenton Way is the main street running through Sinapore's business district.


[Note: Shenton Way is a two block walk (5 minutes) from where I work.]

Update: I've added the AP map above to help show where the epicenter of the quake was. As mentioned earlier, the quake was also felt in Malaysia; however, now I've read that it was felt in Johor (most likely the city of Johor Bahru). Johor Bahru is the city opposite of Singapore, across the strait that separates Singapore from Malaysia. I'll be more impressed if the quake was felt in Malaka or the Kuala Lumpur area.

The death toll on Sumatra is now at least 70, and is expected to rise as reports come in from rural areas.

The worst-hit area appeared to be in and around Solok, a bustling town close to the epicenter of the quake on Sumatra's western coast, which was spared destruction in the 2004 tsunami disaster.

At least two young children and a teacher were killed when a two-story building crashed onto a playground in Solok, said police spokesman Supriadi, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name. Another woman died at a market.

Town Mayor Samsu Rahim told el-Shinta radio that three others were burned alive when their collapsed home burst into flames.

Hospitals were struggling to cope with a flood of patients, many suffering cuts and broken bones, Supriadi said. At least one hospital was evacuated.
(Source)

3 comments:

JDsg said...

Actually, I wasn't going to put the post up at all, except that a colleague of mine got a call from India, asking her if everything was all right. Apparently the news there was making it sound as if the situation here in Singapore was worse than it actually is. So I felt I should put up a post to let people know that Singapore is OK after these earthquakes, although the situation is worse on Sumatra.

Anonymous said...

Salam, JD. I work at the Changi Business Park area and we felt the tremors too. I am on the 6th floor of the bldg. When the first tremor took place, I thought it was me close to passing out coz I felt woozy. Only realised it was the building when I saw my stationery on my desk moving and the kids' drawings pinned on my cubicle wall, swaying. It was scary. I didn't feel the second tremor, though.

May Allah protect the people in Sumatra. Ameen!

JDsg said...

Wa 'alaikum salaam.

I figured that if I had been at home during the time of the quake I might have felt it, insha'allah. We live on the 8th floor of our block, although perhaps the additional floors above us might have dampened the swaying. Either way, I've already gone through one earthquake, so I don't regret having "missed" this one.