The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Johannesburg

Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful smashed the fastest half-century in Twenty20 cricket Wednesday to throw the West Indies out of the world championships.

The 23-year-old dynamo pounded seven boundaries and three sixes in 61 off 27 balls as Bangladesh overtook the West Indian total of 164-8 with 12 deliveries to spare at the Wanderers.

Aftab Ahmed chipped in with an unbeaten 62, sharing a rollicking stand of 109 for the third wicket with Ashraful that came off just 62 deliveries.

Ashraful reached his half-century off 20 balls by hooking Fidel Edwards for a six, surpassing Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya's 23-ball 50 against New Zealand at Wellington in 2006.

The West Indies were knocked out of the 12-nation tournament with their second successive defeat following the eight-wicket loss to South Africa in Tuesday's opening match.

The West Indians, who were sent in to bat on a drying wicket, struggled to 104-3 in 15 overs before the lower order added 60 valuable runs in the last five overs. Dwayne Smith hit 29 off seven balls to lead his team's recovery, but the target of 8.3 runs an over was easily overtaken by the Bangladesh batsmen.

The match was delayed by an hour due to a wet pitch caused by excessive watering overnight by the ground staff, but there was no reduction in overs. "I think it was a very good toss to win because bating could not be easy on a drying wicket," said Ashraful.

"I knew in my mind that 50 percent of the match had been won by winning the toss but we still had to go out there and get the runs.

"The boys have trained hard over the past month. We even atended an army commando camp and I was confident we will do well in Twenty20."

Bangladesh lost openers Mohammad Nazimuddin and Tamim Iqbal by the fourth over with just 28 runs on the board before Ashraful joined Aftab to leave the West Indies in the dumps.

Ashraful began with four boundaries in Daren Powell's third over which realised 18 runs and then hit seamer Ravi Rampaul for a six and four off consecutive balls.

The dapper batsman, who was dropped by Edwards on the fine- leg fence when on 29, welcomed Dwayne Bravo with 4, 4, 6.

At the other end, Aftab rotated the strike skillfully and hit eight boundaries and a six.

Chris Gayle, who hammered the first-ever Twenty20 century in the previous match, fell to the third ball of the match when he cut Syed Rasel to Alok Kapali at point

Left-armer Rasel kept the runs in check with a superb spell of 1-10 in four overs even as Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Devon Smith put on 95 for the second wicket

Chanderpaul made 37 off 31 balls with three fours and two sixes, while Devon Smith top-scored with 51 off 52.

Marlon Samuels launched the late charge with two sixes and two boundaries in one over of Ashraful before holing out off the over's final delivery.

Dwayne Smith hammered three consecutive sixes in another over from Ashraful, who conceded 55 runs in his spell.

Left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan finished with 4-34, including three wickets in the last over of the innings.

Bangladesh play hosts South Africa in Cape Town on Saturday with both teams already assured of a place in the Super Eights round.

Staff Reporter

Thousands of people in the southern coastal areas of the country are still panic-stricken in spite of the withdrawal of tsunami alert early yesterday.

The panic stricken people who fled their homes fearing a tsunami after a major earthquake off Indonesia Wednesday afternoon are yet to return home in the low-lying coastal areas.

An urgent government warning that a tsunami could hit after midnight was repeated frequently by both state and private televisions and radio stations. It was finally cancelled at 1:30 am yesterday.

However, a moderate tremor was felt at the coastal district of Barguna and also at Mongla Port in Khulna early in the morning yesterday. Under the influence of tremors, water level in the rivers in Bishkhali of Barguna district started swelling and rose by two to three feet bursting the banks and submerging fresh areas. Witnessing the waves of water in the river rising up to two to three feet, local people became panic stricken and many of them left their homes for safer places fearing a tsunami.

The local people in Mongla Port area also became panic-stricken after witnessing two to three feet high waves in the sea caused due to the moderate under the sea tremor.

Our Correspondents said thousands of people ran for safety from the areas near seashore after a moderate tremor jolted Barguna and Mongla Port yesterday.

Earlier, the Met office said Bangladesh coast might not be affected by the tsunami in the wake of earthquake in Indonesia.

It said that under the influence of the earthquake in southern Sumatra in Indonesia, a tsunami was likely to be generated along coasts located usually no more than 1,000 kms from the earthquake epicentre.

The Met Office issued warnings on Wednesday saying that a powerful earthquake that struck Indonesia Wednesday afternoon could send tsunami up to Bangladesh coast after Wednesday midnight

Officials in the coastal districts said some six lakh people were evacuated from coastal regions following the tsunami warning.

Police with hailers raised the alarm till Wednesday midnight in the coastal regions after the 8.4-magnitude earthquake occurred hundreds of miles south in the Indian Ocean.

District administration and Red Crescent society workers along the Cox's Bazar beach asked tourists to leave the beach immediately in the evening. Using megaphones they announced that a tsunami might hit the coastal belt at around midnight

The water level at Cox's Bazar shore unusually rose by about 2.5 feet at night, sparking panic among tourists and residents of the resort town.

The national football team training on the beach returned to the hotel after the warning. Later, they were shifted to Cox's Bazar Circuit House.

Patuakhali district administration imposed a red alert at Kuakata sea beach, and coastal Kalapara and Galachipa upazilas for an indefinite period following the tsunami warning.

District administration officials using loudspeakers started making announcements to make people aware about the situation.

DC Office sources said they received an emergency message at about 7:30pm from the Ministry of Relief and Disaster Management about the possible tsunami and directive to take necessary actions.

Officials of the Chitagong district administration said some five lakh pople left their homes. They took shelter in schools, colleges, cyclone shelters and safe houses.

"There was a panic but we used loudspeakers to ask people to take shelter in safe places," an official said.

Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and India also issued tsunami alerts but cancelled them hours later as the threat of giant waves receded.

"We started using hailers at 8:00 pm after the government's order," said a senior police official of the southern island of Sandwip, where some one lakh people took sheltered in the cyclone centers.

Efforts were made to take the fishermen in the Sundarbans to the safer places.

Our Chitagong Correspondent reported that the local administration started evacuating inhabitants of the coastal areas of Chitagong after the evening.

Some 70,000 people were evacuated to cyclone shelters, colleges, schools and government buildings, the police official said.

The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued an alert for the entire Indian Ocean area including Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Maldives--all affected by the devastating December 2004 Asian tsunami. But the centre said later the danger had passed.

Bangladesh escaped the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami which killed 2,20,000 people in a dozen of countries after another massive earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra island.

But officials, unwilling to take chances, opened disaster control rooms in the capital and the districts to coordinate the evacuation after Wednesday's quake.

The district administrations in the coastal areas have been ordered to open temporary shelters so that people can stay the night there, said a senior government official.

Thousands of people in the southern district of Cox's Bazar were ordered to take shelter in safer places while ships were ordered to stay close to harbour in Chitagong Port

Staff Reporter

The heckling of senior leaders by Hasina loyalists in front of Dhanmondi office of the Awami League before and after a meeting of the Central Working Commitee on Wednesday appeared to have widened the gap between the reformist and anti-reformist leaders even further.

Party sources yesterday said senior reformist leaders questioned party Acting President Zillur Rahman, who is leading the anti-reformist group, as to why he did take action immediately when the crowd was still there and calling them names in a chorus.

Some senior leaders, including Presidium member Tofail Ahmed, Acting General Secretary Mukul Bose, Organising Secretaries Saber Hossain Chowdhury and Abdul Mannan and former MP AKM Jahangir, were reportedly mobbed on their way to and from the meeting by supporters of the imprisoned party President Sheikh Hasina.

Hasina loyalists chanted slogans against them, for what they said the reformists' atempt to remove the Awami League (AL) President from the leadership of the party. The reformist leaders learnt to have lodged protest to Zillur Rahman over telephone Wednesday evening and demanded an enquiry into the incident

They wanted to know as to why those young men were mobilised before the meeting of the available members of the Central Working Commitee (ALCWC), which was only meant for the

They further wanted to know who mobilised them and why he did not direct anti-reformist Presidium members Sayeda Sajeda Chowdhury and Begum Matia Chowdhury to disperse the crowds since he was ailing.

Zillur Rahman pleaded his ignorance while pacifying his angry colleagues.

Acting AL President Zillur Rahman and Acting General Secretary Mukul Bose, who is a front ranking reformist, yesterday addressed separate press conferences to condemn Wednesday's incident, apparently exposing their differences once again.

This was the first separate press briefing by Mukul Bose after the arrest of party President Sheikh Hasina on July 16.

Zillur Rahman in his press conference, at his Gulshan residence in the afternoon, condemned Wednesday's incident saying it was "unwarranted".

Also terming the incident unfortunate, he said, "It (incident) was orchestrated to create confusion in the party."

"Some disgruntled and unknown people staged the incident while some party leaders entered and left the party office," he said.

Zillur Rahman said inquiry would be conducted and disciplinary action taken if any person from the party was found involved in it

"Any conflict only weakens the party. All Awami League members will have to be alert and remain united against such conspiracy."

Admiting that they are passing a "difficult time" and there are some misunderstandings among the party leaders, Zillur Rahman said, "The party

is united on the question of freeing Sheikh Hasina from detention."

Party Acting General Secretary Mukul Bose, who was among the roughed up leaders, alleged, "Those who want to split the Awami League have done it in a planned manner."

He said, "The Wednesday's incident was not only unwarranted it was actually a planned conspiracy to divide the Awami League."

"A conspiracy might have been hatched to divide Awami League… Those

who were linked with the incident do not want the release of Sheikh

Hasina," he told a press conference held at party leader Prof Abu Sayeed's Dhanmondi residence.

Mukul Bose said, "The AL remains united and the incident was orchestrated to destroy its unity. We will take action against those responsible for the incident after Acting President Zillur Rahman recovers from his illness," he added.

AL leader Prof Abu Sayeed said the conspirators abused senior leaders to 'destroy the image of the party and Sheikh Hasina.'

He said all the AL leaders want the immediate release of Sheikh Hasina and 'those who do not want her release abused the party leaders.'

It may be mentioned here that the AL leadership virtually split into two groups in mid April when three of its Presidium members-Abdur Razzak, Tofail Ahmed and Suranjit Sengupta -announced identical proposals separately to reform the party, apparently to remove Sheikh Hasina as party chief.

At Daulatdia ferry ghat, vehicles were seen moving to the pontoon at high risk as the ghat went under water.

BIWTC officials said necessary measures were underway to improve the situation.

Our Jamalpur Correspondent Shah Jamal reports: Flood situation has deteriorated further in Jamalpur district The flood situation further deteriorated in Melandaha, Dewanganj, Islampur, Madarganj, and Sharishabari upazilas affecting as many as 200 villages. Some 80 acres of paddy, vegetables and banana fields are still under water in the district Some 2 lakh people have been affected by the second spell of flooding in the district Many of the affected families have become homeless and they have been living under the open sky without any food and shelters.

Our Feni Correspondent reports: Water in the river Feni is flowing above the danger level. The road communication of the district has been affected much due to fresh flooding.

Our Khagrachhari Correspondent says that the normal communication between Khagrachhari and the rest of the country has remained detached. Seven flood shelters have so far been opened in the district

Our Sirajganj Correspondent reports: Water in the river Jamuna has increased further. Most of the business establishments, shops and educational institutions in Sirajganj town remained closed. As many as 185 flood shelters have been opened in the district

Our Sylhet Correspondent reports: Many villages on the banks of river Surma have become flooded entering water through the breaches of the embankments on the river Kushiyara. The water in the river Surma has increased further. Two lakhs acres of arable land have remained submerged over the last five days.

In a bulletin, the FFWC said the prevailing flood situation in Sylhet and Sunamganj districts has started improving and will continue in the next 24-48 hours. The situation in Habiganj, Moulvibazar, Netrokona and Sherpur districts will improve further in the next 24-48 hours.

Besides, the flood situation in Comilla, Feni, Noakhali and Lakshmipur districts has started improving and will continue in the next 24-48 hours.

On the other hand, the Ganges-Padma continued rising and is likely to rise further at a lower rate in the next 24-72 hours.

According to the official statistics, the death toll has risen to 874 across the country since the flooding started on July 30. Most of the deaths occurred due to snakebite, drowning, diarrhoea and respiratory diseases.

However, unofficial death toll from flooding this year has already neared 1,000, with an estimated 8,00,000 people displaced or marooned by rising river waters.

The Health Department statistics reveal, 78 of the casualties occurred from snakebite, 23 from diarrhoea, 20 from respiratory diseases and 753 from drowning.

Information received from Food and Disaster Management Ministry showed that over 1.20 crore people in 263 upazilas of 46 districts have so been affected by the ravaging floods that also damaged 840,715 houses completely and 12,77,726 partially.

Crops on some 819,985 acres of land were damaged completely and on 983,383 acres partially.

A total of 3,635 kms of roads were damaged completely while 26,488

kms partially. The flood also damaged 557 educational institutions completely, 7,891 partially and 88 kms of dam completely and 928 kms partially.

Besides, 194 bridges and culverts were damaged completely while 1,692 partially in the flooding.

A total of 122,545 people were pushed out of their homes into 313 shelters.

Rice, cash, water-purification filter and tablet, food, dates and other goods from the Chief Adviser's Relief Fund and Food and Disaster Management Ministry continued to be sent for the flood-affected people across the country.

Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) programme launched in 41 districts will continue up to December this year and OMS operations that began on September 10 might continue up to October this year.

The FFWC said the mighty Brahmaputra-Jamuna has started falling at Noonkhawa, but it receded by 3cm from 6:00pm yesterday.

The river is expected to record fall at Chilmari, Bahadurabad and Sirajganj from this evening and the falling trend would continue in the next 24-96 hours.

Indian meteorological department forecasts relatively weak monsoon

over the region and isolated rainfall activity over northeastern states (Assam and Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura) during the next 24 hours.

The Tongi Khal at Tongi is likely to rise by 10cm and 10cm and may flow 35cm and 25cm below danger level in the next 24 and 48 hours respectively.

The Turag at Mirpur is likely to rise by 11cm and 9cm and may flow 20cm and 11cm below danger level in the next 24 and 48 hours respectively.

The Buriganga at Dhaka is likely to rise by 12cm and 9cm and may flow 78cm and 69cm below danger level in the next 24 and 48 hours respectively.

The Balu at Demra is likely to rise by 9cm and 10 cm and may flow 11 cm and 1cm below danger level in the next 24 and 48 hours respectively.

The Lakhya at Narayanganj is likely to rise by 9cm and 10cm and may flow 5cm below danger level in the next 24 hours and 5cm above danger level in the next 48 hours.

The Padma at Goalundo is likely to rise by 4cm in the next 24 hours and likely to fall by 1cm in the next 48 hours and may flow 100cm and 99 cm above danger level in the next 24 & 48 hrs respectively.

The Bhagyakul is likely to rise by 5cm and likely to remain steady and may flow 84cm and 84cm above danger level in the next 24 and 48 hours respectively.

The Meghna at Bhairab Bazar is likely to rise by 7cm and 5cm and may flow 20cm and 25cm above danger level in the next 24 and 48 hours respectively.

Most of the rivers in the Brahmaputra and Ganges basins observed rise while most of the rivers in the Meghna and South Eastern Hill basins observed fall.

The Brahmaputra-Jamuna observed rise by 3cm at Noonkhawa, 6cm at Chilmari, 9cm at Bahadurabad, 8cm at Sirajganj and 8cm at Aricha and is flowing above danger level by 12cm, 33cm, 46cm, 92cm and 54cm yesterday morning.

The Teesta at Dalia observed rise by 16cm and is flowing above danger level by 1cm yesterday morning.

The Buriganga at Dhaka recorded rise by 8cm. The Balu at Demra registered rise by 9cm and the Turag at Mirpur observed rise by 13cm. The Lakhya at Narayanganj observed rise by 8cm. The Kaliganga at Taraghat recorded rise by 33cm and is flowing 72cm above danger level.

In the Ganges basin, the Ganges-Padma observed rise by 6cm at Pankha, 7cm at Rajshahi, 7cm at Hardinge Bridge, 11cm at Goalundo and 10cm at Bhagyakul and is flowing 15cm, 96cm and 79cm above danger level at Pankha, Goalundo and Bhagyakul respectively.

The Karatoa at Panchagarh observed rise by 71cm. The Punarbhaba at Dinajpur observed fall by 11 cm.

In the Meghna basin, the Surma is flowing above danger level by 170cm at Kanaighat, 45cm at Sylhet and 21cm at Sunamganj yesterday morning.

The Kushiyara registered fall by 9cm at Amalshid and 3cm at Sheola and is flowing 199cm and 107cm above danger level yesterday morning respectively.

The Kangsha registered fall by 25cm at Jariajanjail and was flowing 33cm above danger level yesterday morning.

The Meghna recorded rise by 10cm at Bhairab Bazar and was flowing 13cm above danger level yesterday morning.

BSS, Dhaka

The holy fasting month of Ramzan begins today (Friday) in the country as the Ramzan moon was seen Thursday evening.

The decision came from a meeting of the national moon sighting commitee chaired by Religious Affairs Adviser Major General (Retd) Matiur Rahman.The meeting also decided that holy Lailatul Qadr will be held on October 9.

The National Moon-sighting Commitee today took the decision in a meeting held at the Islamic Foundation (Baitul Mukarram) to review reports on moon-sighting for the holy month of Ramadan, 1428 Hijri. Chairman of the commitee and Religious Affairs Adviser Maj Gen (retd) Dr ASM Matiur Rahman presided over the meeting. Religious Affairs Secretary M Ataur Rahman, Director General of Islamic Foundation M Fazlur Rahman, Additional Secretary to Information Ministry Sayed Hasinur Rahman, Deputy Director General of Bangladesh Betar Nasimul Quader Chowdhury, Deputy Director of Meteorological Department Shah Alam and Khatib of the National Mosque Baitul Mukarram Maulana Obidul Haq were present among others, at the meeting.

President Dr. Iajuddin Ahmed and Chief Adviser Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed in separate messages greeted the countrymen and Muslim Ummah on this occasion.

In his message the President hoped that "sanctity and teachings of Ramzan would be reflected in life of all of us".

The Chief Adviser urged all to maintain "sanctity, restraint, tolerance, amity and brotherhood during the holy month". Meanwhile, the government has taken various measures for a smooth run of the month of fasting and celebration of the religious festival of Eid-ul-Fitre at the month-end. In the wake of price rises, makeshift fair-price shops have been opened in the capital city and across the country.

Pulack Ghatack

Puting a broad hint of supply side increase before the holy Ramzan, Bangladesh Bank (BB) has provided a positive picture of import with significant rise in opening of fresh leters of credit (LCs).

Opening of fresh LCs against imports have increased by 20.46 percent during the first 68-days of the current fiscal 2007-08, against the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

But, according to the sources in the private sector, overall import has declined in amount, though it has increased in terms of value. They, however, were hopeful to say that the scenario will take a turn shortlyn as the recent assurances of the Chief Adviser and Army Chief about not to harass businessmen has created positive Impact

Data and figures provided by the central bank show an optimistic picture of cereal imports also, as opening of LCs against imports of the items have increased remarkably.

The opening of import LCs of some essential items including rice, wheat, sugar, milk food, edible oils, pulses and onion also rose to meet the growing demands of the essentials in the local markets.

But the importers are saying that it was not the real picture of import, as the import volume of goods did not increase in parallel with the price. Import price have gone up due to soaring prices in the international market, they said.

A Rouf Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Edible Oil Refiners Association, said, "In fact, due to the sharp rise of the prices of most food items in the global market, importers are procuring far lesser quantities of edibles though they are paying higher prices than before."

He said that imports of certain food items have declined, over the year, by up to 23 per cent, which poses the serious threat of supply crisis, but the BB's data tends to make countrymen feel that the import situation is improving.

The business leader said that the situation is likely to improve after the assurance of the government high-ups to keep businessmen out of trouble on September 6 last

He said the present stocks of edible oil and wheat were enough to meet the demand for Ramzan, but there may be causes of concern for post-Ramzan period.

The import LCs worth $3.86 billion were opened during that period as against $3.07 billion for the corresponding period of last year.

According to the central bank statistics prepared for July 1 to September 6 last, the opening of LCs for rice was $167.75 million, for wheat $160.71 million, for sugar $31.49 million, for milk food $31.32 million, for onion $24.05 million, and for crude oil $187.84 million.

Private sector sources informed that import of edible oils, in the crude form, has declined by more than 1,20,000 tonnes by mid-August this year compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

Staff Reporter

Both the rival factions of the BNP are trying to woo its founder secretary general and former President Dr Prof AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury to strengthen their respective group. Emissaries of BNP Secretary General Khondaker Delwar Hossain and expelled Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan had separate meetings with Dr B Chowdhury recently with an identical request to lead the party at the critical juncture as Acting Chairman of the party.

Sources close to BNP said Begum Khaleda Zia prior to her arrest wrote a leter to Prof B Chowdhury who was dislodged as President seeking apologies for the incident and requesting him (Chowdhury) to lead the party as Acting Chairman.

BNP Chairperson's Adviser AHM Mofazzal Karim, belonging to the reformist group, told reporters that Prof Badruddoza Chowdhury has sought time to take a decision on his returning to BNP as pro-Mannan Bhuiyan faction had approached him.

"We have discussed the mater with Prof Chowdhury and he has sought time," he said after a

Meanwhile, BNP Secretary General Khondaker Delwar Hossain yesterday told reporters that they would not take part in the ongoing dialogue unless the party Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia was freed from detention.

Begum Khaleda Zia needs to be free for the party to sit with the Election Commission over electoral reforms, he said.

However, BNP Chairperson's Adviser Brig Gen (Retd) ASM Hannan Shah, belonging to the anti-reforming group, said presidents and general secretaries of BNP district and upazila commitees will be called to a meeting after Ramzan to decide if they would join the dialogue with the Election Commission.

Replying to a question on B Chowdhury joining the party, he said a decision would be taken in consultation with the party's senior leaders.

Mofazzal Karim said they want to join the dialogue with the Election Commission without any condition.

He said the council meeting of the party would be convened in consultation with the party's senior leaders and the executive commitee.

He accused new Secretary General of BNP Khondaker Delwar Hossain and Chairperson's Adviser Brig Gen (Retd) ASM Hannan Shah of creating confusion in the party by making misleading statements.

Internet

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 struck northeast of Sulawesi, Indonesia on Thursday afternoon, a day after three major earthquakes struck the region.

The quake struck underwater at a depth of about 20 kilometers (13 miles) about 300 km northeast of Bitung at 5:48 a.m. ET. The area is 2445 km northeast of Jakarta. A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Thursday morning at about 6:45 a.m. (7:45 p.m. Wednesday ET). The epicenter was about 185 km south-southeast of Padang and about 200 km northwest of Bengkulu.

About four hours later, a 7.1-magnitude quake had rocked the region. Sandwiched in-between were half a dozen temblors measuring 5.0 and above.

At least ten people are known to have died in the earthquakes. But the full scale of the impact has yet to emerge.

Tsunami warnings were repeatedly issued and lifted, as many people ran inland fearing a repeat of the 2004 tsunami.

The largest tremor, of magnitude 8.4, has been followed by one of 7.8 and another two of 7.1 and 6.4.

On Thursday, the authorities issued - and lifted - another tsunami warning following the 6.4-magnitude quake off the northern tip of the island of Sulawesi.

The earlier magnitude-7.8 quake struck Sumatra at 0649 on Thursday (2349 GMT on Wednesday), about 10km (six miles) under the sea, some 185km (115 miles) south-east of the city of Padang, the US Geological Survey says.

It came some 12 hours after the main tremor, about 30km (18 miles) under the sea, 130km (80 miles) south-west of the city of Bengkulu.

At least 40 people have been injured and hundreds of buildings damaged, officials say.

"Many buildings collapsed after this morning's [Thursday's] quake. We're still trying to find out about victims," Padang Mayor Fauzi Bahar told a local radio station.

In one village, 85% of about 1,000 houses were damaged, some badly, the BBC's Lucy Williamson in the area reports.

But no-one appears to have been killed in the village, our correspondent says.

Casualties appear to be lower than first feared, but officials warn that bad communications may be masking the scale of the impact

Health officials in the capital, Jakarta, say teams carrying food and medicine are travelling to the area, and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered the army and police to assist

The United Nations said its teams were also heading for Sumatra.

Wednesday's quake sparked warnings across the Indian Ocean, but only a small wave surge of about 1m (3ft) hit Sumatra, causing litle damage.

But about two hours after the quake, Indonesia's meteorology agency said the danger of a serious tsunami had passed. India and Sri Lanka also called off tsunami warnings.

Thousands of people were reported to have spent the night sleeping in the open air in the areas of Bengkulu and Padang after the previous quake left them terrified.

Wednesday's earthquake was one of the most powerful in Indonesia since the tremor that caused the Asian tsunami in 2004.

That measured 8.9 and struck under the sea near the northern Sumatran province of Aceh, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 220,000 people around the rim of the Indian Ocean.

Indonesia, part of the seismically active Pacific "Ring of Fire", is frequently shaken by earth tremors.