Huge Quakes Hit Indonesia; Christian Agencies Ready to Respond

|PIC1|Two powerful eartquakes, the first of magnitude 8.4, have struck the west coast of Indonesia Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, triggering numerous tsunami warnings which sent hundreds of people in affected cities fleeing into the streets.

Early reports indicate at least nine people have been killed and more than 40 injured, while hundreds of buildings have been badly damaged across several cities, and phone lines and electricity have gone down in many regions.

Tsunami warnings were repeatedly issued and lifted in the hours following the earthquake, as many people ran inland fearing a repeat of the 2004 tsunami.

Thursday's magnitude-7.8 quake hit the same area in southern Sumatra as Wednesday's quake.

The second quake struck at 06.49 on Thursday (23.49 GMT on Wednesday), about 10km (six miles) under the sea, the US Geological Survey has said.
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Casualties appear to be lower than first feared, but officials warned that bad communications may be hiding the scale of the impact.

Wednesday's quake led to tsunami warnings being issued across the Indian Ocean, but only a small wave surge of about 1m (3ft) hit Sumatra, causing little damage.

At least a dozen aftershocks were felt later and four more tsunami warnings were briefly declared and then lifted, reports from the region have said.

The first quake could be felt 375 miles away in Indonesia's capital Jakarta where office workers reportedly rushed down the stairways of tall, swaying buildings. High rises in neighboring Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand also swayed due to the earthquake.

"People rushed from tower blocks into the street [in Jakarta], terrified that the quake could be a repeat of the massive earthquake that triggered the South Asia tsunami in 2004," reported Hendro Suwito, World Vision's communications manager in Indonesia.

|PIC3|"Many, many people rushed out of the high-rise buildings in Jakarta, and one TV station broadcast the lamps swinging from the station ceiling," Suwito said. "Over the last two months, we have felt shaking several times, but this one was bigger than all those."

Christian humanitarian organisations World Vision and Catholic Relief Services both announced they are ready to respond in the aftermath of the quakes.

World Vision's director in Indonesia, Trihadi Saptoadi, and WV's humanitarian emergency assistance manager, Jimmy Nadapdap, are monitoring the situation to see if a rapid emergency response is required.

Catholic Relief Services, which has worked in Indonesia for 50 years, said it is in touch with local partners and communities and is positioned to respond.

Indonesia is often hit by quakes, lying on an active seismic belt on part of what is known as the Pacific "Ring of Fire". The world's largest archipelago has suffered 15 earthquakes with magnitudes of 6.3 or higher since the tsunami in December 2004, according to the US Geological Survey in Washington.

In 2004, a massive quake off Sumatra Island triggered the historic 2004 tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

Both quakes struck close to religious holidays with the 2004 quake occurring on December 26 - one day after Christmas - and Wednesday's quake striking a day before the beginning of Ramadan - the holiest month in Islam - in Indonesia. Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world.

Wednesday's undersea quake hit at about 6:10pm local time, according to the US Geological Survey. Its epicentre was 80 miles southwest of Sumatra Island at a depth of 18.6 miles.