Earthquakes kill four in eastern Indonesia
JAKARTA, Indonesia - A series of powerful earthquakes shook remote eastern Indonesia yesterday, toppling or badly damaging more than 100 buildings and leaving at least four people dead and dozens injured.
JAKARTA, Indonesia - A series of powerful earthquakes shook remote eastern Indonesia yesterday, toppling or badly damaging more than 100 buildings and leaving at least four people dead and dozens injured.
One of the quakes - a 7.3-magnitude tremor - was felt as far away as Australia and sent small tsunamis into Japan's southeastern coast.
The first 7.6-magnitude quake struck at 4:43 a.m. local time about 85 miles from Manokwari, the main city in Papua province, at a depth of 22 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was followed by dozens of aftershocks.
At least four people died in Papua, and the airport runway nearest the epicenter was cracked, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters.
Panicked residents in Manokwari fled their homes in the dark fearing a tsunami, said Hasim Rumatiga, a local health official. The Indonesian Meteorology and Seismology Agency issued a tsunami alert, but it was revoked within an hour after it was determined the epicenter of the main quake was on land.
A huge quake off western Indonesia caused the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed about 230,000 people.
Quakes centered onshore pose little tsunami threat to Indonesia itself, but those close to the coast can churn up large waves that sometimes reach the coastlines of other countries such as Japan.
Power lines fell, cutting off electricity in and around Manokwari, and commercial flights to the area were canceled. The National Disaster Coordination Agency said 135 houses and buildings were badly damaged or collapsed.
"I've instructed emergency steps be taken to help our brothers and to restore power and other vital utilities," Yudhoyono said.
Papua's police chief, Maj. Gen. Bagus Ekodanto, said he received reports that a hotel and rice warehouse had been destroyed, but he did not know if anyone had died. A search for possible victims was under way.
Relief agency World Vision Indonesia was flying in 2,000 emergency provision kits, said spokeswoman Katarina Hardono.
