Indonesia issues tsunami warning after 8.9 quake

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia issued a tsunami warning Wednesday after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 8.9 hit waters off westernmost Aceh province.

People on Twitter said tremors were felt in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and India. High-rise apartments and offices on Malaysia's west coast shook for at least a minute.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said a tsunami watch was in effect for Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Maldives and other Indian Ocean islands, Malaysia, Pakistan, Somalia, Oman, Iran, Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa and Singapore.

A tsunami watch means there is the potential for a tsunami, not that one is imminent.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the powerful quake was centered 20 miles (33 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor around 308 miles (495 kilometers) from Aceh's provincial capital.

Said, an official at Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency who goes by only one name, said a tsunami warning has been issued.

Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.

A giant 9.1-magnitude quake off the country on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, nearly three quarter of them in Aceh.

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Tuanku Abdul Halim selamat ditabal Yang di-Pertuan Agong Ke-14

 

11/04/2012 12:02pm

KUALA LUMPUR 11 April — Dengan sempurnanya lafaz ikrar sebagai Ketua Negara, Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'azam Shah, 84, selamat ditabal sebagai Yang di-Pertuan Agong Ke-14 dalam satu upacara penuh istiadat kebesaran Raja-Raja Melayu, di Istana Negara, di sini hari ini.

Sebaik selesai kemuncak Istiadat Pertabalan itu, tiupan nafiri dan paluan nobat dengan lagu “Perang” bergema di Balairong Seri, dan para hadirin berdiri dan melaungkan “Daulat Tuanku” sebanyak tiga kali, diketuai oleh pemangku Datuk Maharaja Lela Azwan Effendy Zairakithnaini.

Serentak itu juga, tembakan meriam sebanyak 21 das dilepaskan dan lagu

“Negaraku” dimainkan oleh Pancaragam Pusat Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia, diketuai Left. Sabri Abdullah.

Istiadat Pertabalan yang berlangsung penuh berwarna-warni itu disaksikan kira-kira 900 orang tetamu termasuk Raja-raja Melayu dan Permaisuri masing-masing, wakil-wakil Raja-raja Melayu, Gabenor-Gabenor, Yang Di-Pertua, Yang Di-Pertua Negeri, Perdana Menteri, Menteri-menteri Kabinet dan isteri masing-masing.

Turut menyaksikan acara gemilang itu ialah tetamu-tetamu kehormat yang terdiri dari ketua-ketua diplomat asing dan ketua-ketua jabatan kerajaan lainnya.

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