Indonesia’s 8.7-magnitude earthquake felt in HCMC

The quake struck 500 km southwest of the city of Banda Aceh, on the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island, at a depth of 33 km at 3:38pm Hanoi time.

At nearly 6:00 pm, many employees working in buildings around HCMC told Tuoi Tre they continued to feel the effect of the earthquake after Indonesia recorded the 2nd earthquake on the same day.

Office workers in downtown buildings, such as REE buildingin District 4 and Bitexco Financial Tower in District 1, said they had felt the aftershocks frightening the employees currently working at these places.

At these buildings, the second evacuation has been carried out after the group of office workers returned to their workplace .

A Tuoi Tre reader said at 6:00 pm, the employees in 120-122 D1 building in Binh Thanh District felt slight shake for the second time on Wednesday.

Loan, working at the 4th floor, said although the second wave was not as strong as the first one, she still felt very much uncomfortable, feels like being in a state of weightlessness, while her colleagues felt dizzy.

The aftershock lasted about half a minute, then stopped as many people were running down the staircases from the 4th floor and 5th floor.

Thus, the building has been shaken for three times with lessened vibration and duration. Many who usually worked overtime had then hastily packed their belongings to rush home on fear of continuing shake.

Quang, working in the 5th floor of the building, said: "I was working then, suddenly I felt my PC shaking, and the room was shaken as well. The building was shaking for about 2 minutes. As all the people ran down, I followed them."

Working on the same floor, Toan said the whole building was shaking but he then thought that was due to his dizziness. He began to run on barefoot with his shoes on the hands after touching the wall and feeling the vibration.

According to him, after running onto the street, the aftershock still made people dizzy, taking them a long time to return to normal. Then, when people return to work, the aftershock continued to appear again at a lesser extent.

After the aftershocks, people discovered some 1m long cracks on the wall of the 5th floor.

At 3:38 pm, the 8.7-magnitude earthquake was recorded in Indonesian waters with the impact spreading to regional counties including to Vietnam.

At about 3:40pm, people working in the buildings in HCMC rushed out of their buildings as the buildings shaking.

At some levels Tuoi Tre office building in Phu Nhuan District, the vibration occurred, causing the objects on the tables shaken.

On many social networks, information on earthquake spread rapidly. People in Vietnam, Thailand, and southern India, have felt the shake.

Ms. Phuong, an office worker in District 11, said "At about 3:50pm, we are working and saw the building shaking, then we ran down to the street."

Some office workers in Bitexco Financial Tower, the highest tower in the City with 68 stories, said about 4:00pm, the building started to shake, and the vibration got stronger and stronger. All employees of companies in the building was so panicked that they quickly left the building.

As noted by Tuoi Tre reporters, not only Bitexco, but many other buildings in the center were also affected by the shake. Almost all the staff working there were also evacuated to the outside.

Long, working at the 25-story Flamington Tower, said: "We have felt the shaking for a few minutes while working there."

Duong Thanh Binh said: “Our office is on the 15th floor in Bitexco building, when the earthquake happened, I felt dizzy and think you have low blood pressure, but when all the people said they felt the same, we all startled to think it was an earthquake. However, we were calm enough not to flee in panic. If that happens, it is best to get under the desks like some newspapers giving advice.”

Nguyen Thi Kim Chi, working in the building of Van Thinh Phat, on Nguyen Hue Street, District 1, said: "I was sitting on the 7th floor and saw the building shake slightly, feeling dizzy. My roommate shouted out “earthquake”, so that people began to run. When getting down to the ground floor, I saw hundreds of people from nearby buildings also running into the street, everyone looked panicked."

3-magnitute vibration strikes town

Le Huy Minh, director of the Center for Earthquake and Tsunami Warning of Vietnam, said the people in high-rise buildings in HCMC felt vibration due to the influence of the strong earthquakes occurred offshore Sumatra Island (Indonesia).

According to Minh, HCM was affected slightly with a vibration at around level 3 on MSK-64 scale.

He has said regional tsunami warning agencies had issued tsunami warnings on the Indian Ocean region. But if there is a tsunami, it will not have any effect = to Vietnam since tsunamis would only hit coastal areas in Indian Ocean region.

Long aftershocks possible

According to Nguyen Hong Phuong, deputy director of the Center for Earthquake and Tsunami Warning of Vietnam, said the earthquake in Indonesia on Wednesday afternoon was nearly as strong as the earthquake caused a tsunami affecting 11 countries in the Western Pacific region in 2004.

After the earthquake, there were 12 aftershocks ranging 6-7 Richter magnitude recorded.

He said it was very likely more aftershocks in the coming days, which could even last for a month, and HCMC would not be excluded from the effect of those aftershocks.

Regarding the possibility of a tsunami, Phuong said regional countries had also publicized tsunami warning, but so far there had been no tsunami occurred. Vietnam would not be influenced by tsunamis even if they occur.