At least 500 people were killed and hundreds more were missing and feared dead on Sunday after a huge earthquake off northern Indonesia triggered giant tidal waves and flash floods across western Asia.
The quake, which Indonesian seismologists said measured 6,8 on the Richter scale, struck in the Indian ocean southwest of Aceh province on Sumatra island and unleashed massive destruction throughout the region.
Sri Lanka’s eastern and southern coastline was one of the worst hit areas, with rescuers saying at least 406 people had been killed by tidal waves that swamped villages.
At least 200 bodies were taken to a hospital at Muttur in the northeast, said the region’s relief official M Rodrigo.
In the southern town of Matara, 160km south of here, police said 190 bodies were taken to the main hospital while hundreds more were reported missing.
Police in India said at least 26 people died when a wall of water caused by the quake struck the country’s southeastern shores, while a further 100 were feared dead in the country’s Andaman islands.
Tourist resorts in southern Thailand, packed with holidaymakers for the Christmas break were also hit, with 20 people confirmed dead on the popular islands of Phuket and Phi Phi.
The Indian Ocean tourist paradise of the Maldives was hit by tidal waves, inundating low-lying islands, but there were no immediate reports of casualties, officials said.
Residents of the Maldivian capital, Male, contacted by telephone, said most of the capital was flooded.
Indonesian authorities reported 49 fatalities but said they expected the death toll to rise as villagers scoured the coast for others missing since waves measuring up to 10m swept along northern Aceh province.
”According to villagers whom I talked to, the waves were up to 10m in height,” said Mustofa Gelanggang, the head of Aceh’s Bireuen.
”The wave swept all settlements on the coast, and most houses, on stilts and made of wood, were either swept away or destroyed.
”Some areas were under between two and three meters of water for about two hours,” he said.
Aceh, a region currently closed off to foreign media and aid agencies due to a long-running separatist conflict, saw unconfirmed reports of casualties, with buildings including a mosque and a hotel collapsing.
A reporter from the private ElShinta radio said that the earthquake caused substantial damage in the provincial capital Banda Aceh, including the partial collapse of Kuala Tripa hotel and several shops as well as cracks on the road.
Reports differed on the the exact location and size of the quake.
The US Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Centre put the tremor at 8,5, which would make it one of the largest in history, off the west coast of Sumatra while the Strasbourg Observatory in France said the tremor hit 8.0 and was located north of the island.
Jakarta’s Meteorology and Geophysics Office put the quake at 6,8 saying it was centered in the Indian Ocean some 149km south of Meulaboh, a town on the western coast of Aceh.
The office said there were reports of tsunamis, collapsed bridges and downed powerlines. Telephone lines were also down, making communications with the region difficult.
The tremors were felt in Malaysia and as far away as the Thai capital Bangkok, about 1 500km north of the epicentre, where buildings swayed but no serious damage was reported.
Guests of a high-rise hotel reported chandeliers swinging, according to a manager of the city’s Conrad Hotel, while the Charoen Krung Pracha Rak Hospital evacuated all 400 of its patients as a precaution.
Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 18 000 islands, lies on the Pacific ”Ring of Fire” noted for its volcanic and seismic activity, and is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone regions.
Lying at the collision point of three tectonic plates results in frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as pressure between the massive segments of the Earth’s crust is released.
Last month a succession of powerful earthquakes struck Alor island in eastern Indonesia, killing 26 people. – Sapa-AFP