brihannala

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Recent Earthquake Update

Hi all. As many of you heard, there was another huge earthquake near Banda Aceh last night, around 11:00pm local time. It was 8.2 and off the coast of Sumatra, about 100 km from the epicenter of the original tsunami-causing earthquake.

And I'm Fine.

I was at home a the time, with the housemates. We are used to small tremors, but this was nothing like those. It rocked the ground, and went on for about 5 minutes. The secretaries at the office said that it felt like the tsunami earthquake. You had to hold on to something to stand up-- it just felt like you were very dizzy or very drunk. Then it was over.

The worst part was the panic. The people who had gone through the tsunami were very afraid, and there was mass panic on the roads. As soon as the worst of the shaking stopped, people filled the roads. The roads were packed as people headed for the hills. There was fear and warning of another tsunami. But it did not happen.

The worst of the damage was around the islands of Simelue and Nias, to the south and the west. There are supposedly a lot of people who were injured and killed when buildings that were weakened by the tsunami fell over in this earthquake. We are still waiting for real news from there.

But, yes, I am fine. Thanks for the concern. I'll post of anything else happens.