Tsunami Panic Hits Malaysian State After Quake

[george]

Panic hits Malaysian state after quake in neighbouring Philippines

KOTA KINABALU: -- Thousands of people in Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo island fled coastal areas for higher ground when officials warned of a possible tsunami after a strong earthquake hit the neighbouring southern Philippines, officials said on Sunday.

An earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale was recorded late Saturday with its epicentre in the sea south of Mindanao island, about 500 kilometres from Dent Haven near Lahad Datu on Sabah's east coast.

The Prime Minister's Crisis and Disaster Centre issued Malaysia's first-ever tsunami alert after the meteorological department told it about the Philippine earthquake.

Centre director Muhamad Muda said parts of Sabah, especially the state capital Kota Kinabalu, Tawau and several coastal areas, felt the tremor.

"Our department immediately sent out the alert to the Malaysian Control Centre which relayed the message to the Sabah police, military, the information ministry and the local meteorological department," he said.

Police urged locals in some areas to evacuate coastal homes.

Several seaside resorts on Sabah's west coast immediately alerted their guests.

News organisations in Sabah were flooded with calls while people in Tuaran near Kota Kinabalu were caught in traffic jams as they fled towards Mount Kinabalu.

Police were seen in many places calming the public after midnight as they refused to leave mosques and other higher ground for fear that a tsunami might strike.

Even after the alert was scaled down, some Sabahans were still jumpy. "We were not taking any chances," Mohamad Affendi, 44, told AFP, as he made his way to the hills.

Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman said Sunday the panic demonstrated the need for the federal government to instal an early warning system off Sabah.

A total of 68 people died in Malaysia, mostly in the northern resort island of Penang, following the December 26 tsunamis which killed more than 294,000 people across the Indian Ocean.

-- AFP 2005-02-06