One dead, dozens hurt in Indonesian earthquakes
Date: 1/4/2009 9:52:00 AM
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A string of powerful earthquakes rattled Indonesia on Sunday, leaving at least one dead and dozens injured, and triggering panic in the nation hardest hit by the 2004 Asian tsunami.
Indonesian authorities cancelled a tsunami alert issued after the first of several strong quakes early Sunday morning, but by then thousands of people had fled their homes and were thronging roads leading from the coast.
A 7.6-magnitude quake hit before dawn about 150 kilometres (100 miles) northwest of Manokwari, the main city in the province of West Papua, which lies on the Pacific Ocean in the far east of Indonesia's island chain.
A 7.5-magnitude aftershock and a procession of smaller quakes, one as strong as magnitude 6.1, later rattled the region, according to US and Indonesian seismological authorities.
A 10-year-old girl was killed when a wall collapsed and at least 52 people suffered a variety of injuries, 37 of them in Manokwari, according to an AFP tally of hospital figures.
But Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters that based on "unofficial" information, four people have been killed in the quake. The figure could not be confirmed by local hospitals.
"There are only two hospitals in Manokwari and we only recorded one killed... a 10-year old girl," a doctor identified as Agus at one of the hospitals told AFP.
"Any casualty caused by a disaster must be reported to us first before being handed to the victim's family," he added.
One of the main tourist hotels in Manokwari was toppled and at least three people were pulled out of the rubble alive. Electricity in the city was down, and elsewhere there were reports of flattened houses and damaged buildings.
"Three hotel guests returned to their room after the first big quake. They failed to evacuate after the second powerful quake struck and got trapped in the hotel rubble," said the staffer, who gave his name as Harun.
The three were pulled from the rubble and treated in hospital for light injuries, he said.
A doctor at Manokwari General Hospital, Andi Tatat, said three other people were being treated for broken bones and open wounds, including a man who broke his legs jumping from the fourth floor of his hotel.
"The man wanted to jump into the hotel's swimming pool to evacuate but missed his target," Tatat said.
Manokwari police chief Piet Wahyu said it was unlikely the toll would rise.
"Judging by the damage to buildings here, I don't see there being any more deaths," he said.
Two hotels, two banks, a warehouse and a residence were also heavily damaged, news website Detikcom reported.
In the town of Sorong, around 350 kilometres west of Manokwari, at least four houses were levelled and 15 people injured, an AFP correspondent there said.
Military tents had been set up there to treat the injured outside a hospital in case it collapsed, hospital spokesman Ruslan said.
"There are some cracks in the hospital's walls," he said. "We're afraid it could collapse if there are more quakes."
Memories are still raw of the devastation wrought by the 2004 tsunami, which was set off by a massive undersea quake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The giant waves killed 168,000 people in Indonesia's Aceh province and Nias island.
The Indonesian archipelago sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where continental plates meet and cause frequent seismic and volcanic activity.
The Ring of Fire stretches along the western coast of the Americas, through the island nations of the South Pacific and on through Southeast Asia.
Small tsunami waves triggered by Sunday's series of quakes reached Japan's Pacific coast , the Japanese meteorological agency said, but there were no reports of damage |
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One dead, dozens hurt in Indonesian earthquakes
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