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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kalu mama" data-source="post: 12487526" data-attributes="member: 381853">Huge quakes strike off Indonesia; tsunami warning issued                     By Reza Munawir                                                                                                                                                                               BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - A powerful 8.6 magnitude  earthquake and strong aftershocks struck off Indonesia on Wednesday,  sending people as far away as southern India scurrying from buildings  and raising fears of a disastrous tsunami as in 2004. <img src="http://starstorage.blob.core.windows.net/archives/2012/4/11/worldupdates/2012-04-11T112046Z_1_CBRE83A0VIP00_RTROPTP_2_INDONESIA-EARTHQUAKE.JPG" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />People  gather outside the Baiturrahman mosque after an earthquake hit Banda  Aceh April 11, 2012. An 8.7 magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesiaon  Wednesday, sending residents around the region scurrying from buildings  and raising fears of a huge tsunami as in 2004, but authorities said  there were no reports suggesting a major threat.Indonesian President  Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said there were no immediate reports of  casualties or damage in Aceh, the Indonesian province closest to the  earthquake. REUTERS/Stringer Indonesian  President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said there were no immediate reports  of casualties or damage in Aceh, the Indonesian province closest to the  initial earthquake. But an aftershock of almost the same magnitude,  less deep that the first quake, hit soon after he finished speaking. The  first quake struck at 0838 GMT and an 8.2 magnitude aftershock just  over two hours later, at 1043 GMT. Two more strong aftershocks hit  later. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued fresh tsunami  warnings for the entire Indian Ocean after the aftershocks. Authorities  in Indonesia said there were reports of sea-levels rising off Aceh, but  by less than a metre (3.3 feet). But authorities in India's  Andaman and Nicobar islands, to the north of where the quakes struck,  said waves of up to 3.9 metres (13 feet) could hit there. Individual  countries, including Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India, issued  their own tsunami warnings and people near the coast in six Thai  provinces were ordered to move to higher ground. Authorities shut down  the international airport in the Thai beach resort province of Phuket. The  quakes were about 300 miles (500 km) southwest of the city of Banda  Aceh, on the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island, the U.S.  Geological survey said. The first was at a depth of 20.5 miles (33 km). Indonesia's  disaster management agency said power was down in Aceh province and  people were gathering on high ground as sirens warned of the danger. "The  electricity is down, there are traffic jams to access higher ground.  Sirens and Koran recitals from mosques are everywhere," said Sutopo,  spokesman for the agency. Yudhoyono, speaking after the first quake, said there were no signs of a disaster. "There  is no tsunami threat although we are on alert," said he said at a joint  news conference in Jakarta with visiting British Prime Minister David  Cameron, who said Britain was standing ready to help if needed. "The situation in Aceh is under control, there's a little bit of panic but people can go to higher ground," Yudhoyono said. Warning  sirens rang out across the Thai island of Phuket, a tourist hotspot  that was one of the worst hit areas in the 2004 tsunami. "Guests  from expensive hotels overlooking Phuket's beaches were evacuated to the  hills behind and local people were driving away in cars and on  motorcycles. Everyone seemed quite calm, the warning had been issued  well in advance," freelance journalist Apichai Thonoy told Reuters by  telephone. OUT ON THE STREETS Indonesian television showed  people gathering in mosques in Banda Aceh. Many others were on the  streets, holding crying children. In the city of Medan, a hospital evacuated patients, who were wheeled out on beds and in wheelchairs. Yudhoyono  said he had ordered a disaster relief team to fly to Aceh, which was  devastated by the 9.1 magnitude 2004 quake, which sent huge tsunami  waves crashing into Sumatra, where 170,000 people were killed, and  across the Indian Ocean. In all, the 2004 tsunami killed about 230,000 people in 13 Indian Ocean countries, including Thailand, Sri Lanka and India. Wednesday's  quakes were felt as far away as the Thai capital, Bangkok, and in  southern India, hundreds of office workers in the city of Bangalore left  their buildings while the port of Chennai closed down because of  tsunami fears. The quakes were in roughly in the same area as the  2004 quake, which was at a depth of 18 miles (30 km) along a fault line  running under the Indian Ocean, off western Indonesia and up into the  Bay of Bengal. One expert told the BBC at least Wednesday's first  quake was a "strike-slip" fault, meaning a more horizontal shift of the  ground under the sea as opposed to a sudden vertical shift, and less  risk of a large displacement of water triggering a tsunami. The quakes were also felt in Sri Lanka, where office workers in the capital, Colombo, fled their offices. Mahinda  Amaraweera, Sri Lanka's minister for disaster management, called for  calm while advising people near the coast to seek safety. "I urge  the people not to panic. We have time if there is a tsunami going to  come. So please evacuate if you are in the coastal area and move to  safer places," Amaraweera told a private television channel. In  Bangladesh, where two tremors were felt, authorities said there appeared  to be no threat of a tsunami. Australia also said there was no threat  of a tsunami there. (Reporting by Jakarta, Bangalore, Bangkok and Colombo bureaus; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Robert Birsel)</blockquote>

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