Patients at Parigi's Anuntaloko Hospital Evacuated After 6.7 Magnitude Earthquake

Patients being treated at Anuntaloko Hospital in Parigi, Parigi Moutong Regency, Central Sulawesi, were evacuated after a 6.7 magnitude earthquake shook the regency on Tuesday (16/6). The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) stated that the earthquake occurred at 10:27 WIB at a depth of 10 kilometres, approximately 42 kilometres southeast of Palu. Despite the strength of the tremor, the earthquake did not have the potential to generate a tsunami. Patients at the hospital were evacuated to avoid the risk of aftershocks. As of 12:39 WITA, patients were still situated in the hospital corridor. There had been no instruction for patients to return to the inpatient rooms. One resident, Indriyanti, said she was staying outside to anticipate the risk of aftershocks. ‘We haven’t dared to go back inside. The earthquake was very strong,’ she said. A similar situation occurred at Samaritan Hospital in Palu, where patients, health workers, and patients’ families rushed out of the building to an open area after feeling the earthquake. The patients were evacuated using wheelchairs and beds to anticipate the possible risk of aftershocks and the impact of the earthquake.