[BREAKING NEWS] Blogging the Latest Indonesian Earthquake

Paul Tan, the Tsunami Disaster blog and Irish Trojan are blogging the latest Indonesian earthquake, which occurred just hours ago and measured a magnitude between 8.2 and 8.5. Fears are that it could possibly trigger another tsunami like the one experienced by the region in December. More on local blogging here.

UPDATE 1: The US Geological Survey now says that the quake had a magnitude of at least 8.7. If the quake spawned a tsunami as feared, it would strike populated areas in the region by 3 AM Tuesday (4 PM Eastern time Monday). Updates at CNN.com and MSNBC.

UPDATE 2 (2:50 PM EST): A second, 6.0-magnitude earthquake has been reported in the Sumatra region. Geologists believe that this quake was too large to be an aftershock of the earlier quake. Some good news: no signs of a tsunami have been reported so far.

UPDATE 3 (5:00 PM EST): About 300 people have been reported killed by the earthquake so far, and several villages near the epicenter have suffered catastrophic damage. Concerns about a tsunami seem to be waning, though the US Geological Survey reports "small" tsunami activity in the Indian Ocean. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center maintains that damage from a tsunami remains a possiblity and should be "presumed." Read the latest PTWC Pacific bulletins here.