Indonesia hit by second big quake

Another powerful quake hit Indonesia’s Sumatra island today, the US Geological Survey said.

The 6.9 magnitude quake struck at 8.52am local time (2.52am BST), about 180 miles rom the epicentre of a more powerful quake yesterday.

Rescue efforts were under way around the area worst hit by yesterday’s quake, the regional capital of Padang on West Sumatra.

At least 200 people died there and thousands are said to be trapped under collapsed buildings throughout the province.

Shallow, inland earthquakes are generally more destructive, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injures today.

Yesterday, buildings swayed hundreds of miles away in neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore.

In Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province, the shaking was so intense that people crouched or sat on the street to avoid falling. Children screamed as an exodus of thousands tried to get away from the coast in cars and motorbikes, honking horns.

At least 500 buildings in Padang collapsed or were badly damaged, said Disaster Management Agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono, adding that 200 bodies had been pulled from the rubble there.

The extent of damage in surrounding areas was still unclear due to poor communications, he said.

Padang’s mayor appealed for assistance on Indonesian radio station el-Shinta.

“We are overwhelmed with victims and ... lack of clean water, electricity and telecommunications,” Fauzi Bahar said. “We really need help. We call on people to come to Padang to evacuate bodies and help the injured.”

Hundreds of people were trapped under collapsed buildings in Padang alone, including a four-star hotel, he said. Other collapsed or seriously damaged buildings included hospitals, mosques, a school and a mall.

Thousands were believed trapped throughout the province, said Rustam Pakaya, head of the health ministry’s crisis centre.

“This is a high-scale disaster,” health minister Siti Fadilah Supari told Metro TV.

Yesterday’s quake struck just off the coast of Padang, the US Geological Survey said. It occurred a day after a killer tsunami hit islands in the South Pacific and was along the same fault line that spawned the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen nations.

A tsunami warning was issued yesterday for countries along the Indian Ocean, but was lifted after about an hour.

Indonesia’s government announced around €7m in emergency response aid and medical teams and military planes were being dispatched to set up field hospitals and distribute tents, medicine and food rations. Members of the Cabinet were preparing for the possibility of thousands of deaths.

Local television reported more than two dozen landslides in the province. Some blocked roads, causing miles-long traffic jams of cars and trucks.

On Tuesday, a powerful earthquake off the South Pacific islands of Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga – thousands of miles from Indonesia – spawned tsunami that killed more than 100 people.

Experts said the seismic events were not related.