Malaysians told to head for hills

Malaysians told to head for hills

MALAYSIA: Malaysian police advised people living along the country's west coast on Tuesday to get out of the path of a possible tsunami after a huge 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra.

Police went door to door in low-lying coastal communities in the early hours of the morning to send out the warning to head for higher ground after the quake off Indonesia's Sumatra island shook neighboring Malaysia, a police spokesman said.

"We are alerting certain areas," the spokesman said, adding that the move did not amount to a forced evacuation.

"We are just taking precautions for this, for those who stay by the sea, especially in Langkawi and Kedah," he said. -- Reuters