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April 01, 2005

No Tsunami

The 8.7 quake last week may not have produced the expected tsunami, but it was not without effect on nature:

Huge fissures riddled the roads, at least three people were dead and dozens more wounded. But the light of a full moon revealed an even more terrifying sight, the ocean had retreated about 200m, leaving fish flopping on the sandflats.

"We all knew what that meant," Mr Carr said.

"It was head for the hills."

By last night, most of the villagers were still in the hills, puzzled about why the water was still 200m out to sea and convinced that a repeat of the Boxing Day waves that destroyed nearby Banda Aceh, would soon arrive.

"The reef we used to surf over is now 3m above the sea," said Mr Carr, who fled Afulu with Mr Thorns on Thursday.

"The village, or what's left of it, has also been raised by 3m-4m. The new high water mark is about 200m out from where it was."

Posted by bubba138 at April 1, 2005 08:49 AM