Indonesia (Aceh), Summary of Event: 4 hours after the Earthquake

On 11 April 2012, earthquake has occur in Southwest of Meulaboh, Aceh Indonesia with 8.5 M with depth of 10 Km at 2.33 oN and 93.04 oS based on Indonesian Meteorological Agency (BMKG) or 8.9 M with depth of 33 Km (USGS). A tsunami watch was issued for countries ranging from Indonesia to Thailand, India, Australia, the Seychelles, Somalia, Oman and SouthAfrica, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said (The Nation). The Thailand Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) has issued an urgent warning for people living on the coast of six southern provinces to evacuate, the areas would be hit by tsunami starting from 5:09 pm. Malaysian Meteorological Department has issued a tsunami warning as well and urged people living in the coastal area of Kedah, Perlis, Pulau Pinang, and Perak. This Earthquake potential for causing Tsunami, based on the analysis shown on the figure 1 it is expected that if tsunami happen the tsunami wave will made landfall of Aceh coast in 1 (one) hour. The closest area impacted is the island of Simeulue that also impacted during past 2004 Tsunami in Aceh. The distance from the center to the West coast of Aceh as shown above is about 500 Km. The shake was felt in Banda Aceh, Padang, Bengkulu, and Lampung. The shake was also felt in Maldives, Malaysia, and Thailand. Based on the Indonesian Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) there are 8 after-shakes following this earthquake starting initially with 8.5 SR at 15:28 about 510 Km SW of Simeuleu with depth of 10Km, followed by 8.3 SR (15:38), 6.5 SR (16:28), 6.1 SR (16:48), 6.1 SR (17:09 PM), 5.7 SR (17:21), 8.8 SR (17:43PM) around 483 KM Southwest of Simeulue at 10 Km depth, 8.1 SR (17:43PM), and 6.1 SR (18:04). BNPB has confirmed that tsunami has occur in Sabang at 17:04 with the height of 0.6 meter and in Meulaboh for 0.8 meter. This earthquake also causes power outage for about 3.5 hours in Banda Aceh. So far there has been no report of life casualties resulting from this earthquake, damage assessment on surrounding areas like Simeulue and Meulaboh still conducted by local authorities. Based on the ioc-sealevelmonitoring.org the recorded rise in sea level is up to 1 meter at Meulaboh station as shown on the figure 2. Based on NOAA, through sea level station in Phuket, until 19:00 the sea level has been showing normal fluctuation showing by green receding pattern shown on the figure 3. Indonesian BMKG has ended the Tsunami Warning for Indonesia at 19:43