An 8.6 earthquake struck off the coast of Banda Aceh, Indonesia, earlier today. To get a sense of just how powerful an earthquake that is, take a look at this picture. Chennai, India, is about 1,000 miles away from the earthquake's epicenter. That's where a friend of mine works, in this giant office building that was evacuated moments after the shaking stopped. Here's what my friend had to say about it:
The building is just one of the many tech parks in southern india (ours is RMZ MIllenia Chennai)... Tons of American companies with offices there. Something like 5-7 buildings with maybe 1500-2000 people in each one. i've seen similar pictures from other friends in other tech parks down the road.First evacuation (the picture) was after the first big quake around 210pm IST, after about an hour and half of sitting in the 100F sun, they let people back in, and then after the 2nd big one, maybe 415 IST or so, everyone was just sent home and the building managers turned off the elevators to discourage people to return back to work.