"It's a miracle!" cried Mukhtar, a resident of the Indonesian village of Kota Agung, where a huge quake flattened scores of homes but nobody appears to have died or even been injured.
KOTA AGUNG: "It's a miracle!" cried Mukhtar, a resident of the Indonesian village of Kota Agung, where a huge quake flattened scores of homes but nobody appears to have died or even been injured.
"It's a miracle that nobody in this village was killed by this powerful quake," the 42-year-old man marvelled following the 8.4-magnitude quake, which struck on Wednesday on the eve of Ramadan, Islam's holiest month.
While only the interior of his own house was destroyed, Mukhtar's neighbours were not so lucky in the village 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Bengkulu, the city nearest the epicentre of the quake off Sumatra island.
Many of their homes buckled with the force of the temblor, which has been followed by repeated and frightening aftershocks. But at least they escaped with their lives.
Memories of a massive quake here in 2000, which killed around 88 people, had helped, the residents said.
"The (big) earthquake was preceded by light quakes," said Rosdaniar, a 45-year-old mother of five.
"Based on our experience in 2000, we immediately rushed out of our homes the moment we felt the ground rocking. Therefore when the buildings collapsed, there was no one still inside," she said.
But the earthquake still threatens to ruin the lives of many.
Hartini, a 35-year-old mother breast feeding her two-year-old daughter, said simply that her family "has nothing left" now that their house has gone.
"I rushed out of my house as I felt a soft shaking," she recounted.
"But then the shaking grew stronger and stronger, and in the seconds, the minutes, my house collapsed. It was completely flattened," she said.
"I'm already a poor person and with this tragedy I'm becoming poorer. I don't know what to do."
The quake, rocking much of western Sumatra where the death toll of 10 was much lower than initially feared, came as Indonesia's Muslims readied for Ramadan.
Kota Agung's villagers began their fast on Thursday but without the usual hearty pre-dawn "sahur" to help them get through the day with no food or water.
Smoking and sex are also not permitted from dawn to dusk during the ninth month in the Islamic calendar.
"I and my husband as well as my older children are fasting, although this morning we only drank water before the fast began as we have nothing else," sighed Rosdaniar.
Mukhtar and his three teenage children were also fasting, but they feasted on instant noodles with rice before the sun rose.
"My wife prepared the food outside in the open air with a kerosene stove," Mukhtar said.
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