7.6 and 5.5 Magnitude Earthquakes Rocks Southern Sumatra, Indonesia, Malaysia & Singapore

Earthquake updates:

• Tsunami watch issued for Indonesia, India, Thailand and Malaysia after a powerful 7.9-mag earthquake off Sumatra.
• The 7.6-magnitude earthquake off Sumatra has damaged houses and bridges, and caused fires in the city of Padang (Reuters).
• Tsunami Watch issued for Indonesia, India, Thailand, Malaysia
• The earthquake which took place on 10:16 UTC was downgraded to 7.6
• A subsequent 5.5 earthquake in southern Sumatra has been reported at 10:38 UTC which happened at a depth of 104.2 km
• At least 39 dead as strong quake strikes Samoas, causing residents to flee from tsunami
• Experts say no tsunami expected on west coast of USA
• Deadly South Pacific tsunami spares Hawaii, but causes anxiety in the state
  

In a strange turn of events, in many cases today we have to rely on twitter for breaking news, rather than traditional news outlets. There is huge amount of reports coming on twitter from people in Indonesia, Singapore about a big 7.9 earthquake. The report has now been confirmed by USGS and verified by a seismologist. Here are some of the messages from Twitter:

ted_pad there was an earthquake and i felt it for the first time… but didn’t know it till a minute ago
imChildish OMG earthquake !!!!!
quieeman I wasn’t dreaming right? I SO felt that earthquake.
sylistic Im faster than any news sources now!! 7.9 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE FOR INDONESIA !!!!!!!!!
eujin2sides: Fuck! Earthquake in the heart of kl..everyone’s rushing to get out of the building!
hawanasir @billrosli earthquake just now! didn’t u feel it??
nigelskelchy: And section 5, Gasing RT @netraKL @fahmi_fadzil: places affected by earthquake tadi: kuchai lama, jln ipoh, klang, PJ, celcom, sek16,subang.
ShahanimJasmi: “I thought it was the end of the world,” said Laumoli. “I have never felt an earthquake like that before.” SCARY SIAL
naldt: 3 out of 10 the worst earthquake ever was occured in Indonesia
chongxinwei: just back home. We were at d 6th floor when we felt d earthquake. was with Melanie, Amelia Ang and her friend,Max. HELL YEAH.

USGS Report about the Sumatra Earthquake
Magnitude    7.6 (downgraded from 7.9)
Date-Time

* Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 10:16:10 UTC
* Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 05:16:10 PM at epicenter

Location    0.797°S, 99.925°E
Depth    85 km (52.8 miles)
Region    SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
Distances

* 50 km (31 miles) WNW (290°) from Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia
* 225 km (140 miles) SW (229°) from Pekanbaru, Sumatra, Indonesia
* 305 km (189 miles) SSE (156°) from Sibolga, Sumatra, Indonesia
* 480 km (298 miles) SSW (204°) from KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia

Location Uncertainty    horizontal +/- 10.6 km (6.6 miles); depth +/- 16.1 km (10.0 miles)

There are reports of buildings evacuated in Kuala Lumpur. We will keep you updated about the status.

Another earthquake struck the same region of Southern Sumatra, Indonesia with a magnitude of 5.5. The distances are:
40 km (25 miles) NW of Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia
205 km (130 miles) SW of Pekanbaru, Sumatra, Indonesia
460 km (285 miles) SSW of KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia
945 km (590 miles) NW of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia