JAKARTA: A powerful earthquake off eastern Indonesia damaged dozens of buildings and sent panicked residents fleeing to higher ground on Thursday, some climbing trees to escape a feared tsunami, officials and witnesses said. At least 17 people were injured.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 7.0-magnitude quake struck at 1:34 a.m. (1734 GMT; 2:34 p.m. Wednesday EST) approximately 195 miles (315 kilometers) from Manado, the northernmost city on Sulawesi island. It was centered 20 miles (30 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor and followed by several aftershocks.
The temblor was felt strongest on the nearby island of Talaud. Rustam Pakaya, a government crisis center official, said all the injuries and most of the damage occurred in Melonguane and Kabaruan towns.
Patients in one hospital had to be evacuated to a clinic after one of the corridors collapsed, he said. Elsewhere, a church tower came tumbling down. More than 30 other buildings and homes sustained cracks.
The quake briefly triggered a tsunami warning - delivered over mobile loudspeakers and by radio and television. It was lifted about an hour later, however, after the threat of killer waves had passed.
``We were so afraid,'' said Damian Geruh, a Melonguane resident who described women screaming as they fled their homes. ``We ran to nearby hill. I saw others climbing trees.''
Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific ``Ring of Fire,'' an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
In December 2004, a massive earthquake off the country's western island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami that battered much of the Indian Ocean coastline and killed more than 230,000 people - more than half of them in Indonesia's Aceh province alone. A tsunami off Java island in 2007 killed nearly 5,000.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Powerful_earthquake_hits_Indonesia/articleshow/4116222.cms?TOI_latestnews
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 7.0-magnitude quake struck at 1:34 a.m. (1734 GMT; 2:34 p.m. Wednesday EST) approximately 195 miles (315 kilometers) from Manado, the northernmost city on Sulawesi island. It was centered 20 miles (30 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor and followed by several aftershocks.
The temblor was felt strongest on the nearby island of Talaud. Rustam Pakaya, a government crisis center official, said all the injuries and most of the damage occurred in Melonguane and Kabaruan towns.
Patients in one hospital had to be evacuated to a clinic after one of the corridors collapsed, he said. Elsewhere, a church tower came tumbling down. More than 30 other buildings and homes sustained cracks.
The quake briefly triggered a tsunami warning - delivered over mobile loudspeakers and by radio and television. It was lifted about an hour later, however, after the threat of killer waves had passed.
``We were so afraid,'' said Damian Geruh, a Melonguane resident who described women screaming as they fled their homes. ``We ran to nearby hill. I saw others climbing trees.''
Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific ``Ring of Fire,'' an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
In December 2004, a massive earthquake off the country's western island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami that battered much of the Indian Ocean coastline and killed more than 230,000 people - more than half of them in Indonesia's Aceh province alone. A tsunami off Java island in 2007 killed nearly 5,000.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Powerful_earthquake_hits_Indonesia/articleshow/4116222.cms?TOI_latestnews
No comments:
Post a Comment