UPDATE: Old Man Killed, Buildings Damaged in Aceh Quake

BY NURDIN HASAN

Banda Aceh, TAG (25 July 2012) – A 70-year-old man killed as trying to escape from his house and some buildings damaged when a powerful undersea earthquake hit the island of Simeulue in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Wednesday morning.

Abdul Karim, the chief of Teupah Barat subdistrict in Simeulue island said during a phone interview that the victim’s name is Abdul Hadi aka Puyung. He is the resident of Gampong Salur in the area.

"He was shocked and fell down as trying to flee. If the earthquake hit, Puyung was always fleeing to save his life, " Karim said, adding the victim was suffering from hypertension.

Radisal, a spokesman of Simeulue district, said some government buildings, mosques and schools damaged in Simeulue Tengah and Salang subdistricts.

“The wall of mosque in Lambaya village of Simeulue Tengah subdistrict totally collapsed,” he told The Aceh Globe.

Radisal added that clinic and doctor’s house in the subdistrict as long as two schools building and the subdistrict’s office also damaged by the earthquake.

The dome of mosque and the clinic in Salang subdistrict also damaged, he said adding some houses and building also suffered minor damages.

“So far, there is no reports that any residents were injured,” he said, adding that the local officials still collecting the data of damages by surveying to the whole area of the island.

The situation in Sinabang, the capital of Simuelue island has been normal and shops has opened although electricity blackout at noon, Radisal said. 

As reported earlier that a strong undersea earthquake hit off the west coast of Indonesia's Aceh province around 07:27 local time, sending terrified residents of Simeulue island fleeing from homes and buildings but no tsunami was generated.

The 6.6-magnitude quake struck some 300 kilometers (186 miles) southwest of Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, at a depth of 45 kilometers, the US Geological Survey said.

But, Indonesian Meteorology Agency put the 6.4-magnitude quake some 24 kilometers of southwest Simeulue district, a tiny island in Aceh province, at a depth of 10 kilometer.

Residents in Simeulue, said violent shaking was felt for about a minute and had caused an electricity blackout.

Ahmadi, a local journalist in the area said, "There is no electrical power in some areas, and I can see cracks in the walls of homes around me."

"Some people are returning inside their homes, but others are still outside, afraid there may be aftershocks," he said.

The tremor also felt by residents in the entire west coast of Aceh province such as Singkil, Tapaktuan, Meulaboh, Calang as well as the capital Banda Aceh. It’s also reported felt by people in Malaysia.

Indonesian Meteorology Agency placed the quake in the sea off Simeulue, but did not issue a tsunami warning. It said slight shaking was also felt in the city of Banda Aceh, about 360 kilometres from Simeulue.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where continental plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity. A giant quake on December 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, half of them in Aceh.[]