Powerful quake damages office of NTT governor

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara

A powerful earthquake shook eastern parts of Indonesia on Friday morning for about 20 minutes, but no casualties or injuries were reported.

The quake, measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, damaged dozens of buildings, including the East Nusa Tenggara gubernatorial offices in the provincial capital Kupang.

Windows and other parts of the three-story office building were broken, in which large cracks appeared after the quake. Some houses were also damaged.

The quake, which struck at around 9:50 a.m., forced many government offices in Kupang to send staff home.

Many residents in Kupang fled their homes in panic when the tremor occurred.

The quake also briefly halted a plenary session of the local General Elections Commission (KPU), which was discussing the progress of the vote count.

The quake affected most parts of the Timor, Alor, Sumba and Flores islands. However, there were no official reports of damage from outlying areas.

Kupang's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency Office (BMG) director Hendri Subakti said the epicenter was located some 62 kilometers under the Sawu Sea, about 130 kilometers west of Kupang.

"All regions in East Nusa Tenggara felt tremors, though the no fatalities have been recorded," he told The Jakarta Post.

Strong tremors were felt in the regencies of Sikka, Kupang, North Central Timor, East Sumba, Rote Ndao, Alor and Sabu Island, Subakti added.

East Nusa Tenggara Deputy Governor Frans Lebu Raya ordered the local disaster task force to gather data on the damage caused by the earthquake in the affected regions.

In Kupang alone, at least 20 buildings were reportedly damaged by the tremor.

The tremor was felt as far away as the northern Australian city of Darwin, more than 900 kilometers from the epicenter, said seismologist Clive Collins.

"One person reported the quake from a 12-story building in Darwin," Collins was quoted by AP as saying, adding it was unlikely that the quake had caused any damage in Australia.

Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common in Indonesia, an archipelagic country with more than 17,000 islands and islets strung along the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire".