Earthquake Hits Indonesia September 13, 2007… KL Buildings Evacuated ..Quake felt in Malaysia

Posted by azuan on Sep 13, 2007 in :: All Posts :: | 4 comments

Latest 8:27am, 13th September 2007

Quote from Jabatan KAji Cuaca Malaysia

Gempa Bumi 13 September 2007
Satu gempa bumi kuat bermagnitud 6.8 skala richter telah berlaku di Selatan Sumatra, Indonesia pada pukul 7.49 pagi 13 September 2007. Pusat gempa bumi tersebut terletak di latitud 3.0 selatan longitud 101.0 timur, 584 km dari barat daya Johor Bharu, Johor.

At this point a few tall buildings have been asked to evacuate due to tremors. I;ve heard Menara TM also not allowing the staffs to go up.

Updates should be flowing soon. Meanwhile, leave a message in the comments and tell me your story.

** Update 1**

Earthquake Information

A strong earthquake has occurred with these preliminary parameters:

Time of Occurrence : 11.35 am on 13 September 2007
Coordinates : 2.0 South 99.5 East
Location : Southern Sumatera, 96km Southeast of Siberut,Indonesia. 565km Southwest of Melaka.
Magnitude : 6.4 on Richter scale

***Latest Update 2***

News release from Bernama explaining the whole thing that happened this morning. They got the timing wrong though. Supposed to be 7:49 instead of 6:49

September 13, 2007 11:39 AM

Jambi Quake Tremors Felt In KL, Highrise Building Dwellers Rush Out

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 (Bernama) — Anxiety gripped high-rise building dwellers in the Klang Valley again this morning when their premises rattled from the tremors of a powerful earthquake that struck Jambi province today.

The 6.49am earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale hit south Sumatera, about 12 hours after a massive 8.2 quake rocked Bengkulu in west Sumatera yesterday.

Tremors from the Jambi quake were felt at the Menara TM building in Lembah Pantai, Menara TH Selborn at Jalan Tun Abdul Razak and Nikko Hotel at Jalan Ampang, a spokesman of the Jalan Hang Tuah Fire and Rescue station said.

He said the station received more than 50 frantic calls from the public on the tremors since 7.55am.

As a precautionary measure the residents were asked to vacate their premises, he said.

They were allowed to return to their premises 45 minutes later, he said.

“So far the situation is under control. Nevertheless, we are monitoring the situation closely. Civil Defence Department personnel are assisting us to check if the tremors had caused cracks in the buildings,” he said.

An employee at Menara TM told Bernama about 6,000 staff were ordered to vacate the building following the tremors.

“The building security ordered us to vacate the building when tremors were felt at about 8am. We were allowed to return to our work stations at 9.30am after they conducted thorough checks for about an hour,” he said.

It was the same situation at Menara TH Selborn when employees who reported for work this morning felt the tremors at about 7.55am, forcing about 1,000 of them to leave the premises.

Kuala Lumpur City Hall building engineers inspected the building for possible damage, he said.

Surprisingly, however, the tremors were not felt at the 88-storey Petronas Twin Towers, KL Tower and Menara Alor Setar in Kedah.

KL Tower chief executive officer Datuk Zulkifli Mohamad said the tremors did not have any impact on the building.

“The engineers have given their reports to me. The tremors did not cause any structural damage to the building. The KL Tower building is safe, so is the Menara Alor Setar,” he said.

Petronas Media Relations executive Ridzuan Zulkifli said the Petronas Twin Towers, the world’s tallest building, is also safe.

– BERNAMA