Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has ordered the evacuation of residents in the coastal areas of Penang and Kedah states due to concerns that the Sunday morning's tidal waves may recur.

In a hurriedly-called news conference at his residence here Sunday evening, Najib said that at least 28 people had been reported to be killed in the tsunami waves in the coastal areas ofPenang and Kedah occurred following the earthquake in the north-west of Indonesian island of Sumatra.

"The victims (those killed and injured) were mostly those who were picnicking, jet skiing or who were in their houses," he said.

Najib said that the waves were reported to be as high as 3 meters to 5 meters and there were reports that a jet skier were hit by waves and landed in a coffeehouse.

Several people were also reported to have gone missing in Langkawi, north resort island, but this could only be ascertained in a detailed report Monday, he said.

He said that all operations rooms at the state and district level had been ordered to be opened from Sunday night to coordinate the rescue and operations which would also involve the armed forces.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that he would not be able to estimate the number of coastal residents involved in the evacuation as it depended on the respective state-level committees.

In line with this precautionary measure, he also ordered the temporary stop of all activities at sea including fishing.

Najib said that this could be regarded as the worst natural disaster in the country but Malaysia could be considered as still fortunate compared to the deaths and destruction in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The high swell however, he said, did not affect the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) base in Lumut and there were no reports of accidents involving merchant vessels plying the Malacca Straits.

Meanwhile, local press reported that at least 30 people were killed and hundreds of houses and vehicles were destroyed in states of Penang, Kedah and Perlis by the tidal wave.

The quake that rocked Medan and Acheh in eastern and northern Sumatra at about 8:00 a.m. West Indonesian time (9:00 a.m. Malaysian time) was measured at 6.4 on the Richter scale by the Indonesian Geophysics and Meteorology Office.

The US Geological Survey early Sunday revised the magnitude of the earthquake upward to 8.9 on the Richter scale.