JAKARTA: A 6.2-magnitude earthquake on Indonesia‘s Sulawesi island killed at least seven people, injured hundreds and damaged many buildings on Friday, the country’s disaster mitigation agency said, as panicked residents fled to safer areas.
The epicentre of the quake was six kilometres (3.73 miles) northeast of Majene city at a depth of 10 kilometres.
Initial information from the country’s disaster mitigation agency showed that four people had died and 637 others were injured in Majene, while there were three more fatalities and two dozen injured in the neighbouring area of Mamuju.
Thousands had fled their homes to seek safety when the quake hit just after 1 am local time on Friday morning, damaging at least 60 homes, the agency said.
The disaster mitigation agency said a hotel and the office of the West Sulwesi governor were severely damaged, and electricity supplies were also down.(AP)
The epicentre of the quake was six kilometres (3.73 miles) northeast of the city of Majene, at a depth of 10 kilometres. Reuters, Jakarta UPDATED ON JAN 15, 2021 06:50 AM IST
At least three people have died and 24 been injured after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, the country’s disaster mitigation agency said on Friday.
The epicentre of the quake was six kilometres (3.73 miles)northeast of the city of Majene, at a depth of 10 kilometres.
Several thousand panicked residents fled their homes to seek safety after the quake, which did not trigger a tsunami warning but was felt strongly for about seven seconds, the statement said.
The disaster mitigation agency said a hotel and the office of the West Sulwesi governor were severely damaged, and electricity supplies were also down.
Hours earlier, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck in the same district on Thursday damaging several houses
Straddling the so-called Pacific ‘ring of fire’, Indonesia, a nation of high tectonic activity, is regularly hit by earthquakes.
In 2018, a devastating 6.2 magnitude quake and subsequent tsunami struck the city of Palu, in Sulawesi, killing thousands of people.