The 2005 Nias–Simeulue earthquake occurred on 28 March off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia. At least 915 people were killed, mostly on the island of Nias. The event caused panic in the region, which had already been devastated by the massive tsunami triggered by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, but this earthquake generated a relatively small tsunami that caused limited damage. It was the third most powerful earthquake since 1965 in Indonesia. The earthquake occurred at 16:09:37 UTC (23:09:37 local time) on 28 March 2005. The hypocenter was located below the surface of the Indian Ocean, where subduction is forcing the Indo-Australian Plate to the southwest under the Eurasian Plate's Sunda edge. The area is west of Sibolga, Sumatra, or northwest of Jakarta, approximately halfway between the islands of Nias and Simeulue. Seismic recordings give the earthquake a moment magnitude of about 8.6, and effects were felt as far away as Bangkok, Thailand, over away. Earthquake and damage The earthquake lasted for about two minutes. In the twenty-four hours immediately after the event, there were eight major aftershocks, measuring between 5.5 and 6.0. Despite the proximity of the epicenter to that for the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, it ruptured a separate segment of the Sunda megathrust and was most likely triggered by stress changes associated with that earlier event. On the Indonesian island of Nias, off the coast of Sumatra, hundreds of buildings were destroyed. The death toll on Nias was at least one thousand, with 220 dying in Gunungsitoli, the island's largest town. Nearly half of Gunungsitoli's population (27,000) fled. The earthquake was strongly felt across the island of Sumatra and caused widespread power outages in the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh, already devastated by the December 2004 tsunami, and prompted thousands to flee their homes and seek higher ground. It was strongly felt along the west coast of Thailand and Malaysia, and in Kuala Lumpur high-rise buildings were evacuated. The earthquake was felt less strongly in the Maldives, India, and Sri Lanka. Tsunami The earthquake caused great concern around the Indian Ocean that it might trigger a tsunami similar to the massive one generated three months earlier by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake on 26 December 2004. Evacuations were carried out in coastal regions of Thailand, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka. This earthquake, however, produced a relatively small tsunami. A tsunami caused moderate damage to port and