The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Bengkulu

Indonesia's Sumatra island was pounded by aftershocks on Thursday after a massive earthquake killed at least nine people and buried many others under collapsed buildings.

Tsunami warnings were repeatedly issued and lifted for Indian Ocean countries after the magnitude 8.4 earthquake -- the biggest anywhere in the world this year -- was followed over the next 18 hours by 22 tremors ranging in intensity from 4.9 to 7.8.

An Australian seismologist said the region was lucky to have escaped a devastating tsunami similar to the one triggered by the 2004 quake that killed more than 280,000 people.

"There was a tsunami created by the earthquake, it just travelled in a southwest direction away from land," said Mike Turnbull at Central Queensland University.

The initial quake, which happened on the eve of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, was felt across the Malaysian peninsula and Indonesian archipelago, cuting communication lines and sparking fears that the region would awake on Thursday to scenes of widespread devastation.