Indonesian quake levels buildings

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A powerful earthquake in western Indonesia today flattened hundreds of buildings and overwhelmed hospitals on Sumatra island, officials and witnesses said.

It was felt hundreds of miles away in Singapore, where some office buildings were evacuated, and in neighboring Malaysia.

The magnitude-6.3 quake killed at least two children and a teacher when a two-story building crashed onto a playground in the Sumatran town of Solok, said police spokesman Supriadi, who goes by only one name. A woman in a market also died, he said.

District chief Samsu Rahim told el-Shinta radio that nine people had died but did not give details.

Hundreds of buildings collapsed, including a crowded state bank, and hospitals were struggling to cope with a flood of patients, many suffering cuts and broken bones, Supriadi said.

At least one hospital was evacuated following the tremor, sending panicked doctors and nurses fleeing through the doors and startled patients limping behind, some aided by family members.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the tremor struck 20 miles below Solok, on Sumatra’s western coast. It was followed by several strong aftershocks that sent residents pouring into the streets, shattered windows and toppled power lines.

“Everything in my house fell down … a cabinet hit me,” said Rahma Nurjana, a Padang resident. “My neighbor’s house collapsed.”

The tremor and at least one of the aftershocks were felt in Singapore, 265 miles from the epicenter, forcing the evacuation of several older office buildings, TV station Channel NewsAsia reported.

In Malaysia’s southern coastal city of Johor, people fled offices, buildings and shopping centers, eyewitnesses said.

Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

In December 2004, a massive earthquake struck off Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people, including 131,000 people in Indonesia’s Aceh province alone. A tsunami off Java island last year killed nearly 5,000.