Quakes hit Indonesia, raising fears of tsunami

BENGKULU,Indonesia-Indonesia's Sumatra island was hit by a series of aftershocks on Thursday after a powerful earthquake toppled hundreds of buildings, killing at least 10 people and burying many others.A seismologist said the region was lucky to have escaped a tsunami similar to the one triggered by the more than 9 magnitude quake in 2004 that killed over 280,000 people.But the threat remained. Indonesia's meteorology agency issued the latest in a series of tsunami warnings late on Thursday after another strong earthquake struck Sumatra. The damage from the initial quake was "relatively less" than feared, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters on Thursday."However, we still have to do a thorough assessment.People are better at responding to disasters than in previous years."Wednesday's 8.4 magnitude quake-which took place on the eve of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and was felt in neighboring Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand-cut communications and sparked panic in the hours that followed.That quake and more than 20 further tremors ranging in intensity from 4.9 to 7.8 repeatedly set off tsunami warnings in Indian Ocean countries. However there were no reports of major ocean surges hitting coastlines.

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As in the days of Noah...