How strong was the recent earthquake near Padang Indonesia?
A powerful underwater earthquake has struck off the the coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island. The 7.9 magnitude earthquake on Wednesday damaged hundreds of houses, destroyed bridges and started fires in the costal city of Padang, witnesses told local television. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties. “Hundreds of houses have been damaged along the road,” the Reuters news agency quoted a witness in Padang as saying. “There are some fires, bridges are cut and there is extreme panic here maybe because water pipes are broken and there is flooding in the streets.” The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued regional tsunami warning following the earthquake, but the warning was cancelled soon afterwards. The Indonesian earthquake comes just hours after a series of tsunamis caused death and devastation on the Pacific island nations of American and Western Samoa. Padang, the capital of Indonesia’s West Sumatra province, sits on one of the world’s most active fault lines along
KOMPAS.com – Geologists have long said Padang, with a population of 900,000, may one day be destroyed by a huge earthquake because of its location. “Padang sits right in front of the area with the greatest potential for an 8.9 magnitude earthquake,” said Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, a geologist at the Indonesian Science Institute, in February. “The entire city could drown” in a tsunami triggered by such a quake, he warned. Several earthquake-prone parts of the country hold tsunami practice drills, and the national disaster service sends alerts via telephone text messages to subscribers. But some experts have long said Indonesia needs to do more to reduce the risk of catastrophe. Padang needed to invest in better infrastructure, including more roads and other escape routes, said Hugh Goyder, a consultant for the United Nations’ International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, earlier in the year. “The road goes parallel to the coast, which means
