Strong earthquakes rock Indonesia, killing 10

An Indonesian girl kisses her cat near her collapsed house in Lais, Bengkulu, Sumatra island, Indonesia, yesterday.

Three powerful earthquakes jolted Indonesia, triggering tsunami warnings, damaging hundreds of houses and sending panicked residents fleeing to high ground. Picture: AP

THREE powerful earthquakes jolted Indonesia in less than 24 hours, sending a 10ft tsunami crashing to shore, damaging hundreds of houses and terrifying residents.

At least 10 people were killed in the tremors, which were followed by dozens of aftershocks.

One Australian seismologist said the region was fortunate to have escaped a tragedy like the 2004 tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen nations.

The 8.4-magnitude quake that shook south-east Asia on Wednesday was the strongest this year. But the huge force of water it spawned was pushed to sea rather than land, said Mike Turnbull of Central Queensland University.

“It’s quirk of nature that this is how it happened,” he said. “It could quite easily have been the other way.”

A towering wave slammed into at least one village on Sumatra, the island that was ravaged in 2004, sweeping a dozen houses to sea. Smaller waves were recorded further down the coast.

Rukhlan, a 43-year-old fisherman, said residents in Muara Maras were horrified when they saw the ocean retreat and then fire back to shore. “I heard people screaming and yelling ‘tsunami, tsunami!’” he said, adding that the water flooded the village and damaged dozens of homes.

“Then I ran to find my children, but they had already run to the hills.”

Two other powerful tremors — magnitudes 7.8 and 6.2 — followed yesterday in western and eastern Indonesia, the US Geological Survey said. Several tsunami warnings were issued and later lifted. The worst destruction was caused by the jolts along the coast, especially in the city of Padang, 180km from the epicentre.

“At least five large buildings — including mosques, houses and a school — collapsed,” said Surya Budhi, who was overseeing emergency response in the area, and rescuers were searching for survivors at a badly damaged car dealership.