TREMORS shook buildings in Singapore at about 6.15 pm on Wednesday, shortly after a powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami alert for Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Thailand.
The Indonesian agency said the tremor had a magnitude of 7.6. Its epicentre was just off the coast of Sumatra.
The US Geological Survey put the strength at 7.9.
The shaking could be felt in high buildings in Jakarta, several hundred kms away and in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia.
In Singapore, residents from Toa Payoh, Woodlands, Bukit Timah, Simei and Kembangan in the eastern part, reported tremors shaking their buildings.
A spokesman from National Environment Agency said it has received calls from 15 members of the public from Red Hill, Choa Chu Kang, Changi, Toa Payoh, the city area, Punggol, Sengkang, Sembawang and Pasir Ris who experienced the tremors.
Shahida Ariff, 32, from Simei, told the straitstimes.com: 'My sister felt her chair swaying for a moment and my mom felt very dizzy. I felt a light vertigo too but thought nothing of it till my maid pointed out that the mirror was shaking. That scared me for a bit and I thought there must have been a quake somewhere.'
Ms Kee Ya Ting of Woodlands thought her flat was going to collapse.
'I was scared. I live on the 12th floor. I was sitting at my desk when the flat shook and I felt myself swaying from left to right. I thought my flat was going to collapse.'
Some people said the tremors lasted for two to three minutes.
Ms Lim Woan Ying, a consultant whose office is on the third floor of the Sime Darby building in Bukit Timah, said: 'We literally felt the earth move under our feet. The whole building shook for about a minute. We heard the glass panes rattling.
'We were all so surprised. I asked my colleague, 'I'm not feeling giddy right? The whole building shook?''
A resident who lives in The Trumps, a condominium in Kembangan, said she felt the entire 11th floor shaking.
The aftershocks were also felt somewhere in town.
Said newcastle on Straitstimes.com's discussion board: 'Over a minute's worth of shakes in the Killiney Road location. On the ninth floor, the earth really moved. Neighbours were really worried.'
Added altruist: 'I was at my 6th floor office in Ang Mo Kio and suddenly, the cubicles started to shake for a few seconds, stopped, and shook again. We all came down using the stairs.'
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