Two more strong earthquakes shook the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Thursday, after the powerful quake that hit Wednesday, but the area escaped a major tsunami like the one that devastated the region in 2004.
More than a dozen people were reported to have died in the earthquakes, and hundreds of buildings were damaged in the coastal cities of Padang and Bengkulu in western Sumatra.
The shaking continued throughout Thursday, keeping residents on edge. Some fled to higher ground; many more camped outdoors in the streets and parks.
The first and biggest of the shocks, with a magnitude of 8.4 on Wednesday evening, was the third in a cluster of quakes in the area in the past three years of a magnitude of more than 8.0.
That cluster could be a signal that the western coast of Sumatra, which stretches 1,100 miles, could face still more danger, scientists say.
Bengkulu, a city of 1.2 million, was the closest large community to the latest quakes, and it had the most damage. The epicenter of the first quake was about 60 miles southwest of the city; the second was about 125 miles to the northwest.
One tremor struck Thursday morning almost 200 miles northwest of the epicenter of the earlier quake and had a magnitude of 7.8. It was followed shortly before noon by another significant earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.1.