Surfing paradise bears brunt of killer earthquake

Indonesia’s disaster centre said around 1,000 people were killed in the latest tremor, which was about two to four times less powerful than the 9.0 magnitude quake on Dec. 26 but was still one of the eight biggest in the world since 1900. Indonesia’s vice President said the toll could reach 2,000.

The quake struck near Nias island off Sumatra and devastated the main town, Gunungsitoli. The airstrip was damaged and the first relief plane managed to land only late on Tuesday.

‘‘The quake was really powerful,’’ said 30-year old carpenter Yulianus Zebua. ‘‘The earth was shaking continuously so we walked like drunkards. People walked, used motorcycles and cars to flee to the hills.’’

Many of the buildings in the town of 30,000 people were reduced to rubble. Bodies were being collected at a town mosque and relief workers were treating the injured on a soccer field.Injured children wept and most residents prepared to sleep outdoors, their homes either ruined or too dangerous to live in.There was no electricity or water. Relief workers from international aid group Oxfam said roads in the town had collapsed.

In the Sumatran city of Medan, Erni Ginting, a spokeswoman for the disaster centre for Aceh and North Sumatra, told Reuters: ‘‘We figure there is now 1,000 people dead on Nias.’’

Nias is a rugged and remote island about 1,400 km northwest of Jakarta with a population of around 700,000. Its beaches are regarded as a surfing paradise for a fabled right-hand break, a regular wave that courses at an angle from left to right.

Another relief official said at least 15 people were dead and dozens injured on the island of Simeulue, north of Nias, one of the first reports of deaths at other locales in Sumatra.

The quake, which hit shortly before or just after midnight across Asia, spread terror in western Indonesia, Sri Lanka and coastal parts of India, Malaysia and Thailand, the areas devastated by the December tsunami.

Despite the late hour, the countries largely coped well,although there was considerable panic. In contrast to three months ago, when Asian nations were not even part of a warning network, the risk was immediately relayed by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii and distributed across the region.

Police, soldiers, monks, fishermen and residents of coastal areas across the Indian Ocean used megaphones, radio, telephones and temple bells to warn of the possibility of another tsunami.

But well before dawn, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India had cancelled the alerts. Authorities on the island of Mauritius, put on alert after reports that a tsunami could be headed their way, also called off shoreline patrols before dawn. —Reuters