Indonesia's Sumatra island was hit by a series of aftershocks today after a powerful earthquake toppled hundreds of buildings, killing at least 10 people and burying many others.
A seismologist said the region was lucky to have escaped a tsunami similar to the one that killed more than 280,000 people in 2004.
"There was a tsunami created by the earthquake, it just travelled in a southwest direction away from land," said Mike Turnbull at Central Queensland University.
The threat lingered. Indonesia's meteorology agency issued the latest in a series of tsunami warnings late today after another strong earthquake struck Sumatra. It lifted the warning after a few hours.
The damage from the initial quake was "relatively less" than feared, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters today.
"However, we still have to do a thorough assessment. People are better at responding to disasters than in previous years."
Yesterday's 8.4 magnitude quake - which took place on the eve of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and was felt in neighbouring Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand - cut communications and sparked panic.
That quake and more than 20 further tremors ranging in intensity from 4.9 to 7.8 repeatedly set off tsunami warnings in Indian Ocean countries. But there were no reports of surges hitting coastlines. The 2004 tsunami was caused by a quake of more than 9 magnitude.
"We are grateful for the fact that the siuation wasn't as bad as we initially thought it would be," said Muhammad Syamlan, vice governor of Bengkulu province, whose capital Bengkulu was close to the epicentre of the quake.
A Reuters photographer in Bengkulu's provincial capital said the situation appeared calm, with shops re-opening and people milling around. The province, one of Indonesia's key coffee-growing regions, has a population of about 1.57 million.