"We have a siren, but it doesn't work because of power outages after the quake," said village chief Marsan, adding it could only be heard in a radius of 100 metres anyway.
Marsan, clad in a sarong, said he hoped the government would build breakwaters to shield the village.
"When the quake struck, the sea water spilled onto the streets, reaching the waistline," said Jailani, 40, a fisherman.
Rustam Pakaya, head of the Indonesian health ministry's crisis centre in Jakarta, said 14 people had been killed and 56 injured across the region since Wednesday's quake.
HOSPITAL DRIP
The latest quakes triggered new panic among thousands camping out in makeshift shelters or tents, using torches and kerosene lights, and setting fires overnight to keep warm.
Patients had to be moved into tents in front of the hospital in Bengkulu, the nearest major town to the epicentre of Wednesday's 8.4 quake, the most powerful in the world this year.
"When the first strong quake struck, I ran immediately from the room with my infusion," said Yasin, 50, who had been treated with an intravenous drip for allergies.
Roads in the north of Bengkulu province were lined with tents and a Reuters photographer estimated about 8 in 10 houses appeared badly damaged or destroyed.
Seismologist Turnbull said the region was lucky to have escaped a tsunami similar to the one that killed more than 280,000 people in 2004.
International aid agencies had sent teams to assess aid needs, although many outlying districts had not been reached yet.
The U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Thursday its initial assessment was that the Indonesian government could cope,
Indonesian Vice President Yusuf Kalla told reporters quake victims would be given help with reconstruction if needed, along the lines of last year's earthquake in Yogyakarta on Java island when more than 5,700 died.
"In Yogyakarta we helped with the reconstruction of houses. In Bengkulu we will do so, too, depending on the extent of the damage."
Indonesia suffers frequent quakes, as it lies on an active seismic belt on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire".
