This could be very very bad. About 2 hours ago....
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) ΓΆ€” A powerful earthquake hit Indonesia on Wednesday, causing buildings to sway in the capital, and authorities issued a tsunami warning for much of the Indian Ocean region.
The undersea quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.9 and hit at about 6:10 p.m. (7:10 a.m. EDT), the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was centered 65 miles southwest of Bengkulu, on Sumatra island, at a depth of 9.7 miles, the USGS said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for wide areas of the region.
"Earthquakes of this size have the potential to generate a widespread destructive tsunami that can affect coastlines across the entire Indian Ocean Basin," it said, warning that waves could hit Indonesia and Australia within an hour, and Sri Lanka and India within three hours.
Residents in Bengkulu said the quake triggered panic and that people were running inland.
The temblor could also be felt in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, where office workers streamed down the stairwells of tall swaying buildings.
Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
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