Powerful quake kills five in Manokwari<\/p>\n
Agencies, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A powerful earthquake in the Papua district of Manokwari killed
\nat least five people, injuring more than 170 others and damaged
\nover 120 buildings, officials said on Friday.<\/p>\n
The temblor, measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale, jolted the
\ndistrict and the surrounding area at about 7:50 p.m. local time
\non Thursday, meteorology officials said.<\/p>\n
\"The latest data show five people have died,\" police First
\nBrigadier Suparta from the main coastal town of Manokwari told
\nAgence France-Presse.<\/p>\n
A policeman died after he was hit by falling debris from a
\nmosque in the worst-hit area of Ransiki, 90 kilometers (55 miles)
\nsouth of Manokwari, said another police officer who declined to
\ngive his name.<\/p>\n
He said many homes were damaged but communication problems
\nwere hampering efforts to assess the situation.<\/p>\n
Two infants in Ransiki died after their homes collapsed,
\nanother Manokwari policeman, told AFP.<\/p>\n
Manokwari's district chief Dominggus Mandaccan said more than
\n170 villagers had suffered injuries from the quake.<\/p>\n
He said casualties and estimate damage could rise but data was
\nslow to arrive at his office due to poor communications and lack
\nof transportation to and from the hardest-hit areas.<\/p>\n
George Leskona, an official at the Manokwari Earthquake
\nCenter, added that 60 homes, mosques and churches in Ransiki and
\nOranbari sub-districts were flattened by the quake, while 75
\nothers sustained heavy or slight damage.<\/p>\n
\"Several areas south of Manokwari, such as Oranbari and
\nRansiki are reportedly the hardest hit. The quake caused
\nlandslides, covering some sections of roads, cutting off land
\ntransportation to Oranbari,\" Leskona said, adding that there are
\nalso reports of crack as long as three kilometers in the area of
\nOranbari.<\/p>\n
He said a series of aftershocks followed the initial quake,
\nforcing thousands of residents to stay outdoors overnight, adding
\nthat a team of paramedics and social workers have left Manokwari
\nto Ransiki and Oranbari, using speedboats to carry medicines and
\nother emergency supplies, Laskona said.<\/p>\n
Arief, an official at Jakarta's National Earthquake Center,
\nsaid the earthquake's epicenter was in the Pacific Ocean, about
\n99 kilometers south of Manokwari.<\/p>\n
According to Reuters, the Earth Sciences Observatory in
\nStrasbourg, France, earlier registered the quake at 7.4 on the
\nRichter scale, describing it as the biggest in the region since
\n1995.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian archipelago is one of the world's most
\nearthquake-prone regions, sitting on the so-called \"Pacific Rim
\nof Fire\" infamous for its volcanic and seismic activity. It
\nregularly experiences quakes of more than 5.0 on the Richter
\nscale.<\/p>\n
The last fatal quake in the country was at Bengkulu in the
\nsouthwest of Sumatra island in June 2000, when 100 people died.<\/p>\n
An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 on the Richter scale can
\ncause considerable damage in heavily-populated areas.<\/p>",
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