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 The 7.8 magnitude quake did not trigger a tsunami, and there were
no deaths and no major damage, but it did expose gaps in the systems
put in place to prevent a disaster similar to the Indian Ocean quake
that killed more than 200,000 people 11 years ago.
In addition to the malfunctioning of buoys designed to warn of
massive waves, authorities said there were not enough evacuation
routes or shelters in Padang, a Sumatra island port city of around
one million people that felt the quake.
"There was definitely panic last night, that cannot be denied," said
Zulfiatno, the head of the disaster management agency in Padang who
uses only one name, adding that shelters had the capacity to only
hold around 200,000 people.
"But the situation has improved from previous years. People have
started to understand how to evacuate safely."
The 9.15 magnitude quake of December 2004 opened a fault line deep
beneath the ocean, triggering a wave as high as 17.4 meters (57
feet) that crashed ashore in more than a dozen countries to wipe
some communities off the map in seconds.
Indonesia straddles the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire", a highly
seismically active zone, where different plates on the earth's crust
meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.
The province of Aceh on the northwest tip of Sumatra bore the brunt
of the 2004 tsunami, with at least 168,000 killed.
"WE CAN EASILY FORGET"
Soon after that disaster, Indonesia introduced a sophisticated early
warning system using buoys, sea-level gauges and seismometers that
can send alerts to countries' tsunami warning centers within 10
minutes of a quake.
Officials said the procedure is to issue a tsunami warning if a
quake of more than 6.5 magnitude and with its epicenter less than 20
km (12 miles) deep happens at sea, and that went smoothly on
Wednesday.
But the buoys, which measure the force and speed of water movement,
were a missing link in the chain. Authorities delayed the lifting of
their tsunami warning because of the inoperable buoys, which cost
around $2.3 million a year to maintain.
"We can easily forget. After the quake in Aceh we wanted to do
everything, but by 2015 we don't have money allocated (to fix the
buoys)," Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster
Mitigation Agency, told reporters.
"Most of (the buoys) were broken by vandalism," he said.
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Although there were some strong aftershocks on Thursday, normal life
largely resumed at daybreak in Padang.
There were 11 aftershocks during the night following the main quake,
but authorities called for calm as they had diminished in strength.
"We do not believe that there will be an earthquake of greater
strength," the National Meteorological Agency said on its Twitter
account. "And so residents are urged to keep calm and not be taken
in by rumors."
Fears ran high on Wednesday evening when it was reported that the
tremor had measured 8.2 and authorities issued evacuation alerts on
loudspeakers, radio and TV. Patients at hospitals in Padang were
evacuated and there were traffic jams as panicking residents tried
to leave.
However, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) revised the magnitude
down to 7.8 and within two hours of the quake striking the tsunami
warnings were canceled. USGS said the epicenter was 808 km (502
miles) southwest of Padang.
"If we had tried to evacuate outside the city it would have been
difficult. Everybody grabbed their bikes and tried to (flee) but it
was too much," said Febridal, a street food vendor in Padang who
briefly went to an evacuation shelter after seeing the tsunami
warning on TV.
Others ignored all warnings and remained by the shoreline, watching
the waves for signs of a tsunami.
"We never heard any alarm, but we saw on TV that there was potential
for a tsunami," said Mulyaman, whose family runs a small seaside
restaurant. "We didn't see any signs of big waves so we decided to
stay."
(This story has been refiled to edit first paragraph)
(Additional reporting by Eveline Danubrata and Bernadette Christina
Munthe in Jakarta; Writing by Randy Fabi; Editing by John Chalmers
and Nick Macfie)
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