TREMORS FROM EARTHQUAKE IN INDONESIA, FELT IN PENANG

GEORGE TOWN, May 11 (Bernama) -- Tremors from a moderate earthquake that struck North Sumatra, Indonesia today were also felt by residents living in Penang, especially in areas near the sea.

Penang Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) director Mohamad Shoki Hamzah said his department had received two reports of tremors believed to be a result of the earthquake that occurred in the neighbouring country.

“So far, the fire department has received two phone calls from members of the public in a residential area in Block 1, Taman Selatan in Jelutong and a hotel in George Town at 5.15 pm this evening reporting tremors in their residential area.

“The fire department was sent to the location to conduct further inspections and the operations commander reported that the locations were safe and there were no structural damages to the buildings involved,” he said when contacted by Bernama, today.

He said the fire department was also monitoring from time to time to ensure that no premises or buildings were affected by the tremors caused by the earthquake.

Meanwhile, a resident of Apartment Desa Baiduri in Farlim, here, Fatin Syafiqah Ahmad Rozi, 32, said she and her family who live on the 10th floor also felt the tremors for several minutes but thought she had a headache.

However, she said the tremors were also felt by other family members before her neighbour who also felt the same incident came to her house to ask if there was anything wrong like tremors or there was a construction project in their residential area.

“The tremors were felt twice but only for a few minutes, we didn’t know yet that there was an earthquake in Indonesia and the neighbours had called us to go down because we were afraid something would happen, at that time we saw several other residents coming out of their houses,” she said.

A resident of an apartment in Jelutong, Nur Hafizah Mustafa, 42, said the tremors were quite strong so that she could see several items in the house moving and she immediately went into the room to see her seven-year-old son sleeping.

“Then I came out of the house and saw several neighbours asking each other what happened as everyone was worried that something would happen before they knew that there was an earthquake in Indonesia,” said Nur Hafizah who lives on the 15th floor of the apartment.

Earlier, the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) in a statement announced that a moderate earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale hit North Sumatra, Indonesia at 4.57 pm this afternoon.

The tremors were also felt in most areas on the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, but there was no tsunami threat to the country.

-- BERNAMA