Indonesian authorities on Tuesday warned residents returning to their homes in western Sumatra that was rattled by a magnitude 7.3 earthquake and several aftershocks to be careful and exercise caution.
The earthquake that triggered a tsunami warning that was lifted two hours later took place out at sea at about 3 a.m. (2000 GMT Monday), albeit there were no reports of casualties.
Residents in Padang, a city on the west coast of Sumatra, said they had panicked as tsunami warning sirens wailed and forced evacuation to higher ground in the middle of the night.
“We just ran because we heard there was a tsunami. I just brought my family, we didn’t bring anything else,” Hendra, a Padang resident who goes by one name, said while in an evacuation zone.
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As Indonesia straddles the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire which is a seismically active zone where different plates of the earth’s crust meet, it makes it highly susceptible to frequent earthquakes.
The national disaster mitigation agency urged residents to stay alert and ensure that home exits remained unblocked in case people needed to rush outside again.
The agency said there were power outages in some parts of the Mentawai Islands, which were closest to the epicentre while several aftershocks were recorded. A tide gauge at Tana Bala island off the western Sumatra coast recorded an 11-centimetre rise in water levels after the main quake, it added.
Padang and West Sumatra province were struck by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in 2009 that killed more than 1,100 people, injured many more and caused widespread destruction.
Story was adapted from Reuters.
