Another quake hits Nias island, residents flee

Another quake hits Nias island, residents flee

The Jakarta Post, Medan/Padang/Yogyakarta

A major earthquake shook Nias island late on Saturday, causing
panic among residents, an official said on Sunday. No fatalities
were reported, but the undersea quake measuring 6.1 on the
Richter scale added to the trauma of residents following the
massive quake on March 28 that killed hundreds of people.

An official at the Meteorological and Geophysics Agency in
Medan, Albertus Simanullang, said the epicenter of Saturday's
quake, which lasted for 10 seconds, was about 44 kilometers
northeast of Gunung Sitoli, the capital of Nias regency.

The 32-kilometer deep quake hit about midnight, leading to a
half-hour power blackout in area. Residents of Gunung Sitoli,
including those living in shelters, rushed to higher ground for
fear of a tsunami.

Simanullang said the earthquake on Saturday was the largest
since the March 28 quake that measured 8.7 on the Richter scale.
The tremblor on Saturday could be felt in cities in Sumatra such
as Padang, Padang Sidempuan, Sibolga, Sidikalang and Medan. The
quake caused cracks in some buildings but no building collapses
were reported.

Separately, a earthquake expert from the Sepuluh November
Institute of Science, Rachmat Purwono, said studies showed the
only area on Java island at risk of a tsunami was West Java
province.

According to Rachmat, the only areas in Indonesia at risk of
earthquake-triggered tsunamis, outside of Aceh, are Bengkulu,
Lampung, Bandarlampung, West Java, Banten, East Nusa Tenggara,
West Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, North Maluku, Palu and Gorontalo.

"The areas that are safe from the threat of tsunamis include
Jakarta, Central Java, East Java, Bali, South Sulawesi and
Kalimantan," Rachmat said as quoted by Antara news agency.

While Rachmat did not include Yogyakarta in those areas at
risk of tsunamis, authorities in the area are working to set up
an early warning system for large wave caused by earthquakes.

An official said on Saturday the Yogyakarta provincial
administration would set up large sirens on Depok Beach in
Bantul, and on Trisik and Glagah beaches in Kulonprogo regency.
The sirens will be sounded if there is earthquake in the area,
said Raymond Sofyan, the head of Yogyakarta's Disaster Prevention
Center.

The plan was devised after a message from the Minister of Home
Affairs called on governors across the country to set up early
warning systems for tsunamis and earthquakes.

Separately, volcanologists lowered the status of Mount Talang
in Solok district, West Sumatra, to watch from alert status on
Sunday, as activity at the mountain decreased. Mount Talang
erupted last Tuesday, forcing thousands of nearby residents to
flee their homes.

As activity at the volcano has decreased, the Solok
administration has told residents they can return to their homes,
the coordinator of the Solok Disaster Prevention Center, Elfi
Syahlan, said.