Strong quake in Indonesia damages buildings, residents flee coastal areas
10 Jan 2023 04:00pm
An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale shook the eastern Maluku region in Indonesia.
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The country's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency had reported the quake at 7.9 magnitude before revising it to 7.5, head of the Quake and Tsunami Mitigation Division at the agency named Daryono told Xinhua by phone.
Several houses and buildings were impacted by the earthquake, some of them had cracks and some others collapsed, Doni B. Layan, the head of operational unit of the disaster management and mitigation agency in Kepulauan Tanimbar district, the hardest hit area, told Xinhua via phone.
The official said that an assessment would be conducted to find out the precise impact of the tremors. So far, he said, there were no preliminary reports of injuries or fatalities.
The official said that over 2,000 people in the district had fled the coastal areas after the quake.
"We have carried out several drills in anticipation of tsunami. So when the quake occurred, the residents rushed to leave the coastal areas and headed to higher grounds," said Layan.
Previously, Eva M.F. Tuhumury, a senior official of disaster management agency in the province, said the residents in the district of Maluku Barat Daya had fled the coastal areas for safety.
The tremors of the earthquake were also felt in several nearby provinces, according to the weather agency. The quake occurred at 00:47 am (1747 GMT) with its epicentre located 148 km northwest of Maluku Tenggara Barat (Kepulauan Tanimbar) district and a depth of 131 km under the seabed, the agency said.
Three aftershocks from weak to moderate levels followed the main shock, according to Daryono.
The agency had issued a tsunami alert for Malluku and the nearby province of Southeast Sulawesi.
-- BERNAMA
