Unique account: this fellow was on a surfboard near the epicentre.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12578016

He was surfing at the time the quake hit. "All of a sudden I got this jerking feeling. I thought a shark was biting my board. I honestly thought I was being attacked by a shark," he said.

"I turned around and there was no shark there. But the water started doing these bizarre patterns. There was a change in air pressure. Up and down motions, and then I looked at Sumner and all the cliffs were falling down."