Indonesia Earthquake Kills 75

Indonesia Earthquake Kills 75 and the toll will increase as fatalities come in. What is called a major earthquake in Indonesia killed at least 75 people Wednesday, September 30th, 2009.

According to a Red Cross disaster worker, the earthquake was centered in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province.

The quake caused widespread power, phone outages and bridges are down, making it difficult to assess the size of the damage and thousands are feared to be trapped inside buildings and homes.

The earthquake started about 5 p.m. local time. It centered about 33 miles (53 kilometers) from Padang, the capital city of West Sumatra. Padang is used to be the home to more than 800,000 people.

The earthquake, which had a magnitude of 7.6, according to the U.S Geological Survey and officials are concerned about the after shock with so many with out electric and water. Especially if it should happen in the middle of the night, with total darkness, since there is no electricity.

Getting medical assistance will be even harder as one of the hospitals reported that part part of their building had collapsed and people were still buried in the rubble.

Also, fires erupted and a  market is on fire, the airport is not usable at this time and streets are impassable.

Indonesia Earthquake Kills 75 and the final death toll is not in yet. The earthquake was felt as far away as Medan and Gengkulu, where people panicked and ran outside in search of higher ground, fearing a tsunami was coming as well. Singapore and Malaysia also felt the quake bit not as bad as the above mentioned cities.

“I did feel the tremor in office today somewhere between 5 – 6 p.m., I asked [a co-worker] if there’s an earthquake somewhere, either that or I was hallucinating.” said Ratna Osman, who works in a  one story office building in Petaling Jaya, which is just outside Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur.

This area is accustomed to earthquakes. In fact, earlier this month, an earthquake in West Java killed 57 people.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a tsunami watch for Indonesia, India, Thailand and Malaysia, but has canceled it at the time of this post…

On Tuesday, September 29th, 2009, a magnitude 8.0 quake-triggered tsunami killed at least 111 people in the Samoan islands and Tonga.

Tsunami waves over 5 feet above sea level, swept across a wide swath of the Pacific Ocean, killing dozens and flattening and submerging whole villages. The dead included 22 in American Samoa, 82 in Samoa and seven in Tonga.

The death toll is expected to rise as rescue workers start to reach outlying villages and discover new casualties and those that were swept out to sea

The epicenters of the two earthquakes were about 4,700 miles (7,600 km) apart and The U.S. Geological Survey has not decided if the two quakes were linked.

I wonder why they name large storms but not large earthquakes?

For the full story of “Indonesia Earthquake Kills 75” go to CNN News. BBAC would like to send thoughts and prayers to those who are in this area and the family and friends.