Powerful earthquake triggers tsunami in western Indonesia

Jakarta, Sept. 13 (AP): A massive earthquake killed at least 10 people on Wednesday, injured scores and triggered a small tsunami in western Indonesia, authorities said.

Warnings of potentially destructive waves were issued across the Indian Ocean region.

The 8.4-magnitude quake off Sumatra island damaged homes, shopping malls and mosques along the coast and could be felt in at least four countries, with tall buildings swaying as far as 2,000 kilometres away.

It was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks.

A tsunami -- perhaps just a metre- high -- reportedly struck off the city of Padang, said Suhardjono, a senior official at Indonesia's meteorological agency, adding that severed phone lines were making it hard to get details. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre also reported a small tsunami.

Most of the damage, however, appeared to come from the tremor.

Two people were killed when a car dealership collapsed and another person died in a fire on the fourth floor of a department store, said Alfin, a witness in Padang, adding that excavation machinery was being used to search through the rubble for survivors.

At least seven people also were killed in and around Bengkulu, a town 400 kilometres away, Social Affairs Department official Felix Valentino told the news portal detik.com. At least 100 others were hospitalised, said Health Ministry official Rustam Pakaya.

"Everyone is running out of their houses in every direction," said Wati Said, who spoke by cell phone standing outside her house in Bengkulu, which was closest to the epicentre of the quake. "We think our neighborhood is high enough. God willing, if the water comes, it will not touch us here. ... Everyone is afraid."

The undersea temblor could be felt in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, 600 kilometres away, where office workers streamed down the stairwells of tall, swaying buildings. It also caused high-rises to sway in neighboring Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

The quake hit at about 1640 IST(6:10 pm local time), the US Geological Survey said, and was centered 105 kilometres southwest of Sumatra island at a depth of 30 kilometres

"Earthquakes of this size have the potential to generate a widespread destructive tsunami that can affect coastlines across the entire Indian Ocean Basin," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said, warning that waves could hit Indonesia and Australia within an hour, and Sri Lanka and India within three.

Indonesia lifted all alerts several hours later, saying there was no longer a potential for a destructive wave.

Tsunami warnings were issued as far away as Africa, with people in Kenya told to leave beaches.

Closer to home, Thailand sent cell phone text messages alerting hundreds of officials in six southern provinces.

Sri Lankans were also told to move at least 200 metres inland.

In Australia, the tsunami warning was lifted after only small rises in the sea level were measured at Cocos Island and the Christmas Islands. But officials warned residents to stay away from the ocean, warning that dangerous waves and currents could still affect beaches, harbors and rivers for several hours.

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