Two Powerful Earthquakes Kill At Least 70 In Indonesia
An important update to this story has been posted
Two powerful earthquakes struck Indonesia early this morning killing at least 70 people.
The first temblor, preliminary magnitude 6.3, struck at 10:49am Jakarta time and was situated at 0.536°S, 100.498°E near Lake Singkarak in West Padang.
The second temblor, preliminary magnitude 6.1, struck at 12:49pm Jakarta time and was situated at 0.526°S, 100.531°E, also near Lake Singkarak.
The hypocentral depth of both earthquakes was set at about 18 miles beneath the surface.
The Jakarta Post reports that the earthquakes were felt in Singapore where some buildings were evacuated.
The BBC has eyewitness reports from earthquake survivors.
Yahoo! News reports that women were crying in terror as thousands of people fled to higher ground fearing a tsunami.
Global Voices is carrrying a list of Singaporean blogs talking about the tremors there.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey
Resources:
CalTech: Sumatran Plate Boundary Project
Caltech Geologist Kerry Sieh has posted an important update on this earthquake. In the update, Kerry Sieh says “The earthquakes on the morning of March 6th (Indonesian time) resulted from slip along the Great Sumatran fault, north of the large city of Padang, in the province of West Sumatra. The Great Sumatran fault traverses the entire 2000-km length of Sumatra, from Banda Aceh on the north nearly to the volcano Krakatau in the south.”
You can read Kerry’s full update, including graphs, here:
Magnitude 6.3 – SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
Many thanks to Professor Sieh and his team.
(Update 3/6/2007 4:12pm):
The World Wide Help blog is covering disaster relief efforts by various agencies. Check their postings for the status of relief efforts:
World Wide Help: Quake In Indonesia / First OCHA Field Situatonal Report
