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Powerful Earthquake Hits Indonesia, At Least 70 Dead
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=16881CB:A6F02AD83191E160D5CCC0DCE266A34E9574F7DCC14957C0 US Geological
Survey says earthquake struck 50 kilometers from West Sumatra's
provincial capital, Padang A powerful earthquake struck the Indonesian
island of Sumatra killing at least 70 people and destroying hundreds
of buildings. VOA's Nancy-Amelia Collins in Jakarta has more.

Indonesia's Sumatra island was struck by the earthquake, a magnitude
of 6.3 on the Richter scale, on Tuesday morning. Around two hours
later, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck the same area again.







Video grab from local television shows patients of local hospital
rushing out of their hospital during an earthquake in Padang, West
Sumatra, 06 Mar 2007The tremors killed dozens of people, and sent
hundreds to hospital with broken bones, cuts and scrapes, local
officials say. The powerful quake was felt hundreds of kilometers away
in Singapore, where several buildings were evacuated, and on the west
coast of Malaysia. Neither country reported any damage.

In the West Sumatran capital of Padang, near the quake's epicenter,
many buildings were damaged.

Hasrul Piliang, spokesman from the governor's office in Padang, says
people in the seaside capital immediately panicked and began running
to higher ground fearing a tsunami. He says the mayor and government
workers went to the streets with loudspeakers to explain that the
earthquake's epicenter was on land, not sea, making a tsunami
unlikely.

Padang is one of several Indonesian cities where a tsunami warning
system is in place.

In the town of Solok, around 63 kilometers north of Padang, government
spokesman Hasrul says many people have been killed and injured by the
quake. He says hundreds of homes, schools, and businesses have been
toppled.

In December 2004 a powerful 9.0 earthquake off Sumatra triggered a
tsunami that killed over 230,000 people in a dozen Indian Ocean
countries, including over 160,000 in Indonesia's Aceh province.

Last July a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the south coast of
Java triggering a tsunami that killed more than 650 people.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because it is
situated along constantly shifting fault lines encircling the Pacific
Basin known as the Ring of Fire.


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