At lest 10 dead in Indonesian earthquakes
Pastor Dale Morgan
Monday December 18, 8:11 PM
*At lest 10 dead in Indonesian earthquakes*
A quake that struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra has killed at least
ten people, injured several hundred and damaged hundreds of homes.
Three aftershocks sent residents rushing out of their homes in the
region, where memories of the 2004 tsunami which devastated Aceh further
to the north are still fresh.
Rescuers worked all day to reach 20 villages which were cut off by
landslides triggered by the 5.7-magnitude quake, police said Monday.
The epicentre of the quake, which hit at 4:39 am (2139 GMT Sunday), was
150 kilometres (95 miles) southeast of Sibolga at the relatively shallow
depth of 17.7 kilometres, geologists said.
Eddy Syofian, information chief in the North Sumatra provincial
government, said the death toll was around ten with several hundred
injured, according to the detikcom news portal.
Police in Panyabungan bordering South and West Sumatra earlier said that
a family of four was killed after their home collapsed in Tamiyang
village some 65 kilometres away.
"Three people were killed due to falling debris while an elderly man in
his 70s suffered a deadly heart attack," police officer Ahmad Sofian
told AFP.
He said the quake damaged 850 homes and six people had been admitted to
hospital with serious injuries.
Key roads blocked by quake-triggered landslides had been cleared by
Monday evening, he said.
Some 20 villages out of 23 in the worst-hit district of Muara Sipongi
had been cut off by the landslides, local police chief Pulongan told AFP
earlier.
"We have set up temporary shelters for those who have lost their homes
and are providing them food," he said.
Officials said people were refusing to return home as aftershocks
continued to hit the region.
The quake was also felt 540 kilometres away in Singapore, the
city-state's environment agency said.
Singapore local radio reported receiving calls from residents who said
that their apartments were shaken by the tremor.
The quake followed just half an hour after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake
hit the north of Sumatra.
The first quake struck at 4:10 am with its epicenter under the Indian
Ocean south-southwest of Banda Aceh.
"These are moderate earthquakes," said Budiwaluyo, head of the
earthquake information unit with the meteorology headquarters here.
He said no tsunami warning was issued for the first quake as it was
below 6.3-magnitude.
The Indonesian archipelago sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire
where continental plates meet, causing frequent seismic and volcanic
activity.
Indonesia was the nation worst hit by the earthquake-triggered Indian
Ocean tsunami of December 2004, which killed some 168,000 people in Aceh
province on the northern tip of Sumatra.
A 7.7-magnitude earthquake in July on the south coast of the main island
of Java also killed more than 600 people.