After Major Quake Near Indonesia, First Tsunami Is Relatively Small : The Two-Way : NPR
The first reports from Indonesia and places nearby about the aftereffects of today’s large, 8.6-magnitude earthquake are encouraging:
— Reuters reports that the first tsunami generated by the temblor is headed for Indonesia’s Aceh province, but at this point measures just under 7 inches in height. “It doesn’t look like a major tsunami,” Victor Sardina, a geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, tells Reuters. “But we are still monitoring as tsunamis come in waves.”
— Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters earlier that “thanks God, from what I heard there is neither casualties reported nor major damage in Banda Aceh or other places.”
The need for watchfulness has been underscored by word of an 8.2-magnitude “aftershock” in the same area.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the first earthquake happened at 4:38 a.m. ET this morning, or 2:38 p.m. Thursday local time, and was centered about 14 miles deep off the west coast of Northern Sumatra — 270 miles southwest of Banda Aceh.