A powerful 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Padang, Indonesia on September 30, 2009, killing at least 75 people and trapping thousands under collapsed buildings. The death toll was expected to rise as rescue efforts were underway. Infrastructure was heavily damaged, including collapsed buildings, bridges and power outages. The earthquake caused widespread panic in the city of 900,000 people as aftershocks continued. Geologists had long warned that Padang was at high risk of a major earthquake and potential tsunami due to its location along a fault line.

1. Padang Sumatra Indonesia Earthquake 30Padang Sumatra Indonesia Earthquake 30thth
September 2009September 2009
A powerful earthquake struck off the city of Padang on Indonesia's Sumatra island on Wednesday,
killing at least 75 people and trapping thousands under rubble, officials said.
The death toll was likely to rise further as many buildings, including hotels, schools and shops had
collapsed, Vice President Jusuf Kalla told a news conference in Jakarta. TV footage showed
devastation, with piles of rubble and smashed houses after the 7.6 magnitude earthquake, which
caused widespread panic across the city of 900,000 people.
Rustam Pakaya, the head of the health ministry's disaster center in Jakarta, said "thousands of people
are trapped in the rubble of buildings." Metro Television reported the roof of Padang airport had
collapsed.
The quake was felt around the region, with some high-rise buildings in Singapore, 440 km (275 miles)
to the northeast, evacuating staff. Office buildings also shook in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center cancelled an earlier tsunami alert. "Hundreds of houses have
been damaged along the road. There are some fires, bridges are cut and there is extreme panic here,"
said a Reuters witness in the city, who also said broken water pipes had triggered flooding. His mobile
phone was then cut off and officials said power had been severed in the city.
A resident called Adi later told Indonesia's Metro Television there was devastation around him. "For
now I can't see dead bodies, just collapsed houses. Some half destroyed, others completely. People
are standing around too scared to go back inside. They fear a tsunami," said Adi. "No help has arrived
yet. I can see small children standing around carrying blankets. Some people are looking for relatives
but all the lights have gone out completely.” Sumatra is home to some of the country's largest oil fields
as well as its oldest and smallest liquefied natural gas terminal, although there were no immediate
reports of damage to those facilities.

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September 2009September 2009
Padang, the capital of Indonesia's West Sumatra province, sits on one of the world's most active fault
lines along the "Ring of Fire" where the Indo-Australia plate grinds against the Eurasia plate to create
regular tremors and sometimes quakes.
A 9.15 magnitude quake, with its epicenter roughly 600 km (373 miles) northwest of Padang, caused
the 2004 tsunami which killed 232,000 people in Indonesia's Aceh province, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India,
and other countries across the Indian Ocean.
The depth of Wednesday's earthquake was 85 km (53 miles), the United States Geological Survey
said. It revised down the magnitude of the quake from 7.9 to 7.6.
A series of tsunamis earlier on Wednesday smashed into the Pacific island nations of American and
Western Samoa, and Tonga killing possibly more than 100 people, some washed out to sea,
destroying villages and injuring hundreds.
Geologists have long said Padang may one day be destroyed by a huge earthquake because of its
location.
"Padang sits right in front of the area with the greatest potential for an 8.9 magnitude earthquake," said
Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, a geologist at the Indonesian Science Institute, in February.
"The entire city could drown" in a tsunami triggered by such a quake, he warned.
Several earthquake-prone parts of the country hold tsunami practice drills, and the national disaster
service sends alerts via telephone text messages to subscribers.
But some experts have long said Indonesia needs to do more to reduce the risk of catastrophe.

5. An aerial view of Padang city taken from Siti Nurbaya hill in
Indonesia's West Sumatra province February 11, 2009

6. Padang, Sumatera, Indonesia Earthquake

7. Padang, Sumatera, Indonesia Earthquake

8. Padang, Sumatera, Indonesia Earthquake