Earthquake hits Indonesia's Papua
Pastor Dale Morgan
Earthquake hits Indonesia's Papua*
Indonesia's eastern province of Papua has been hit by a magnitude 6.4
earthquake, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The tremor, at a depth of 37 km (23 miles), had its epicentre 182 km
(113 miles) west of Jayapura and hit at 4.11 PM local time (7.11 AM GMT)
USGS said.
Indonesia sits across the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the
world's most seismically active areas.
There were no immediate reports of damage.
The Indonesian meteorology and geophysics agency estimated that the
quake had a magnitude of 6.0, and said it was followed 22 minutes later
by a 5.3 magnitude aftershock.
"The quake was pretty strong. If it had struck a village or a town it
would have had an impact," Suhardjono, an agency official, told Reuters
agency.
"So far we have not received any reports (of casualties or damage) but
the quake was mildly felt in parts of Jayapura."
More than 1,000 people were killed in 1998 when a tsunami hit the
eastern part of the island, the territory of Papua New Guinea.
And in the Asian tsunami of December 2004, more than 130,000 people died
on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.