Indonesian government calls off tsunami warning

Quake felt in Bangkok many people called in the Nation's newsroom to check what happened.

Bangkok, Jakarta - The Indonesian government has called off a tsunami warning after an 8.0-magnitude earthquake jolted parts of Indonesia's Java and Sumatra islands on Wednesday evening.Officials at the Jakarta Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said they withdrew the warning because too much time had passed for a tsunami to reach shore.

A powerful earthquake jolted parts of Indonesia's Java and Sumatra islands on Wednesday evening, prompting Indonesian government authorities to issue a tsunami warning. The earthquake was triggered by the same fault that heavily shook the region and generated the tsunami in 2005

"This is very dangerous situation. We have to watch our coasts more closely. My department is on alert to monitor the situation, so that we could warn our people before it happens," Suparuek Tansrirattanawong, chief othe department said.

The quake, measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale, took place at about 6:10 pm (1110 GMT), shaking Jakarta, West Java's Banten province, parts of South and West Sumatra, said Fauzi, an official at Jakarta's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency.

"We have issued a warning that the quake could potentially trigger a tsunami," Fauzi told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. In Bangkok, a resident of Sukhumvit 103 meanwhile said that the water in her swimming pool flown in the same manner as the last tsunami and it lasted some five minutes.

She then checked the local news if there was any report of earthquake somewhere.Piyarat Chuenprasaeng, a call center staff of AIS who works on the 31st floor of the 42-floor Phaholyothin Place, said staff on the floor were frightened by the tremor.

Dpa reported that the quake took place about 159 kilometres south-west of the South Sumatran province of Bengkulu and was about 10 kilometres beneath the seabed.

No immediate casualties or injuries were reported.Indonesia is located along the Pacific volcanic belt known as the "Ring of Fire," where earthquakes and volcanoes are common.

On December 26, 2004, a massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake, which triggered gigantic tidal waves, devastated thousands of homes and buildings along the coastline of northern Sumatra, leaving around 170,000 people dead or missing in Indonesia and thousands more dead and injured along the Indian Ocean coastline.

source Reference : The Nation/Dpa