There was an A.P. article that more or less said that Kerry Sieh was concerned about these M6+ quakes in and around the Mentawai gap. He may see each one as the breaking of a patch that is keeping the subduction zone from slipping in a great quake. The article said that it is likely there will be a quake in the next 100 years (D'uuh). I would guess that Sieh doubts we would wait that long. The article said that people were not reacting much to the M6+ to 7.0s. Having all these could be a problem...kind of like crying wolf...well, there were just 5 big quakes and no tsunami, so we are not running from the lowlands fior the next one (is it Panang?). People may need to have watches and note when the shaking starts and if it lasts over a minute, get out of the lowlands. You'd probably have to look at a watch or count out, because probably 15 seconds feels like a minute during a quake.
(people should defer to the experts on these things, which I am not...just some thoughts for this page).
Chris