Many report tremors in S'pore; authorities say structural safety of buildings not affected

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) received many calls from the public reporting tremors yesterday morning but no injuries were reported.

The SCDF advised the public to keep calm and listed precautions people should take if a similar event occurs in future, such as staying away from objects that may fall and checking for any cracks in the structure of buildings they are in.

Tremors were felt in several locations in Singapore at about 9.40am yesterday after a magnitude-6.1 earthquake hit Indonesia.

Residents in housing estates such as Bedok, Hougang, Lavender, Punggol and Sengkang, as well as people in the Central Business District, reported seeing the furniture and fixtures in their homes "shaking" for several minutes.

Housewife Lynn Chua, 44, was having breakfast in her Hougang flat on the 10th floor when her dining table started shaking around 9.45am.

"I felt two rounds of tremors, each lasting about five seconds," she told The Straits Times. "My husband checked and told me that an earthquake had occurred."

Singapore Polytechnic student Rachel Hungee, 19, was sitting an exam when she felt the floor shake. "I didn't know I was experiencing an earthquake until I saw the news after my exam," she said.

The police said that at about 5.22pm yesterday, engineers from the Housing Board and the Building and Construction Authority completed inspections on the structural safety of 42 buildings affected by the tremors caused by the earthquake in Sumatra.

The statement said the structural integrity of all the buildings has not been affected by the tremors.

"A strong earthquake occurred this morning in Sumatra on a known active fault about 400km away called the Sumatran fault," said Assistant Professor Judith Hubbard from Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS).

Dr Kyle Bradley, a principal investigator at EOS, said: "Most of the time, the shaking from Sumatran earthquakes is not strong enough for people in Singapore to feel it.

"Because today's event was strong enough and close enough to Singapore, there were many reports of people who felt this earthquake."

Professor Pan Tso-Chien from the NTU School of Civil and Environmental Engineering said: "Buildings of different heights in Singapore respond to a long-distance Sumatran earthquake differently.

"However, current requirements for the design of buildings in Singapore have already incorporated the effects of tremors originating from the long-distance Sumatran earthquakes."

Dr Bradley added: "This event did not cause any damage in Singapore but it is possible for earthquakes on the Sumatran fault to cause stronger shaking in Singapore."

Prof Hubbard said: "Today's event is a reminder that Singapore can feel earthquakes, so people should be prepared for this hazard."