The 8.4 magnitude ‘great earthquake’ struck 80 miles (130 km) southwest of Bengkulu, where part of the city’s main hospital collapsed. Several other buildings also crumbled, including a four-story car showroom.
Shaking was so violent that an Australian worker driving in Padang described a road as "rippling like a snake" beneath him during the quake.
A tsunami alert was issued across the Indian Ocean from Thailand and Australia to the coast of Africa, but only a relatively small ocean wave was generated by the undersea temblor.
The strongest in a series of powerful aftershocks prompted officials to issue three more tsunami alerts during the hours that followed the initial jolt. No significant rise in sea level was detected due to any of the aftershocks.
The massive seismic slip occurred just north of the epicenter of a disastrous 9.1 magnitude quake that caused extensive damage and a deadly tsunami on December 26, 2004.
That great earthquake was followed three months later by an 8.6 magnitude temblor farther south near the island of Nias.
The U.S. Geological Survey said all of these quakes occurred along the boundary separating the India tectonic plate and the Burma plate. Earthquakes are common in the region, often reaching a magnitude of 8.0 about once per year.