| By Teh Joo Lin in Singapore & Elizabeth Looi in Kuala Lumpur | ||
 |  | Office workers gather outside their building after experiencing an earthquake tremor in downtown KL. -- PHOTO: AP |
IT WAS a regular day at work, until accountant Kelvin Ng's office began to sway.
The 26-year-old ran nine flights down from his Bencoolen Street building to the road outside.
'It was so bad it gave my friend a headache,' he said.
He was among thousands in Singapore and Malaysia who had a fright when they felt tremors in the wake of the 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck off Padang, Sumatra.
For up to two minutes, people in Singapore reported seeing curtains sway, grilles rattle and chairs shake in buildings from Choa Chu Kang to Changi.
Workers and residents streamed out of some buildings in areas such as Raffles Place and Changi, and officers from the Building and Construction Authority were out inspecting buildings last night.
The authorities received some 170 calls about the tremors, but no casualties were reported.
The police said there was no cause for alarm.
'Buildings in Singapore are designed to established building codes and are sufficiently robust to withstand tremors caused by distant earthquakes,' said a spokesman.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry said last night that it is monitoring the situation, but so far there were no reports of Singaporeans affected by the earthquake.
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times
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