W. Sumatra quake damages buildings, but no fatalities
W. Sumatra quake damages buildings, but no fatalities
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A powerful earthquake jolted several parts of West Sumatra
province on Friday, damaging a number of structures, officials
said.
No casualties or injuries were reported in the incident.
The quake, measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale, left minor and
major cracks in the walls of a number of buildings in the
affected areas and caused panic among local residents who fled
their homes, Antara reported.
The tremor struck at 8:55 a.m. for only three to five minutes
and was centered in the Mentawai Strait, about 90 kilometers west
of Padang Panjang, local seismologist Bayu Pranata was quoted as
saying.
Bayu said the quake was felt most strongly in Padang, Pariaman
and South Pesisir, where several concrete houses suffered slight
damages.
"We have received reports that houses in the border area
between Padang and South Pesisir have cracked from the tremor,"
he said.
Heru, an official at the local Meteorology and Geophysics
Agency (GMT), confirmed that buildings in Padang had cracked from
the jolt, which "lasted for about five minutes", he told AFP from
Padangpanjang.
On Feb. 22, Padang was shaken by a quake measuring 5.9 on the
Richter scale, also centered in the Mentawai Strait.
Another earthquake hit the province on Feb. 16 and left five
people dead and six injured, while it damaged 70 houses in Tanah
Datar regency and caused a power blackout for several hours.
Two weeks earlier on Feb. 6, a powerful earthquake measuring
6.9 on the Richter scale rocked the sparsely populated area of
Nabire in Papua province, killing at least 37 people and injuring
hundreds of others.
Local residents lived in makeshift tents following the huge
tremor, which destroyed hundreds of houses and buildings,
including schools, churches, mosques and government offices. Most
of those who died were killed by collapsed buildings.
The government declared Nabire a disaster area, and United
Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed his condolences to
the victims and promised humanitarian assistance.
In his message, Annan called on the international community to
assist the government in providing relief aid to victims.
On Feb. 2, an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale
hit the two tourist islands of Bali and Lombok, injuring dozens
of people and damaging hundreds of buildings. An elderly man
reportedly died of a heart attack, apparently triggered by the
shock of the strong tremor in Lombok.
Another quake struck Manggarai regency, East Nusa Tenggara
(NTT), damaging several houses and public facilities. No
casualties or injuries were reported after the quake, which
measured 5.58 on the Richter scale.
Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago with more than
17,000 islands and islets, is prone to seismic upheaval because
of its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire.