Bloggers in Malaysia Warn of Earthquake · Global Voices
Mack Zulkifli

A violent tremor was felt in parts of Malaysia, and bloggers, experienced in early detection of crisis when blogging about the Asian Tsunami disaster, came out with warnings. Those who I picked up blogging early on this issue are;
Andreas from AlwaysWOW
Peter Tan from Digital Awakenings
FANTASIZED blog headlined “EARTHQUAKE!”
I blogged about it at 1616 GMT here and followed up with this post.
Jeff Ooi of Screenshots is coordinating with me on finding the latest information, as he is out and about.
you can read more posts as they appear at popular Malaysian blog aggregator, Petaling Street. This is the best place to stay in touch with bloggers who are reporting on the lastest information available to them.
It is now within half-an-hour since the first tremors were felt and reported by Malaysian bloggers. I am trawling for more information regionally.
UPDATE: CNN reports that an 8.2 earthquake occured off the coast of Sumatra at 16:54 GMT. Possible Tsunami warned Don Blakeman from US Geological Survey.
UPDATE 1707 GMT:
We have opened an IRC channel for Asian bloggers and Internet users to share resources and info on the Tsunami.
Server: DALnet
Channel: #quakeblogs
Peter Tan is moderating for now.
Am updating the latest news here and Jeff Ooi is dealing with the media here. We will be posting regular updates. Looks like a long night.
*** End Update
Update 1909 GMT
Initial transcripts from IRC channel #quakeblogs here. Deaths has been reported in Indonesia, where Medan is said to be very hard hit.
How ironic that I was writing about the Tsunami a few days ago. Trust me i find no joy in just realising this fact.
Update 2255 GMT
Tsunami alert in this region has been terminated as of 2200 GMT, and damage seems to be restricted to the earthquake. My report here. God Bless that the earthquake did not create a destructive Tsunami, like the one that ravaged this region. We are still recovering from the last tragedy and another on of similar scale would be devastating beyond imagination. South East Asia is breathing slightly easier. However there is still widespread damage and deaths resulting form the 8.7 Richter earthquake.
I will continue updating the news in this region and will round up with a case study on how bloggers in the region used technology to report the disaster, and how this time arround, bloggers were more effective and efficient in their reporting. There is definately a learning curve.
Update 0322GMT
Up to 2,000 feared dead in Indonesia. Meanwhile, a Japanese Earthquake Alert service, simply called EarthquakeAlert seems to be using blogs to market their products. They pinged me, hence I found their blog. Check out their blog here.