Massive Earthquake Hits Indonesia [PHOTOS]

Indonesia was battered by a 6.2-magnitude earthquake today which killed at least 34 people and injured more than 600 others amid fears that the aftershocks would cause a tsunami. 

Victims were trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings in the city of Mamuju, with rescuers searching for more than a dozen patients and staff in the wreckage of a destroyed hospital.

The tremor on Sulawesi island triggered panic among terrified residents as forecasters warned that the aftershocks ‘could be as strong, or stronger, than this morning’s quake’. 

‘There is potential for a tsunami from subsequent aftershocks… Don’t wait for a tsunami first because they can happen very quickly,‘ said Dwikorita Karnawati, chief of Indonesia’s meteorological agency.

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The epicentre of the quake, which struck around 1.30 am on Friday, was nearly four northeast of Majene city at a depth of around six miles.

‘The latest information we have is that 26 people are dead… in Mamuju city,’ said Ali Rahman, head of the local disaster mitigation agency, adding ‘that number could grow’.

‘Many of the dead are buried under rubble,’ he said.

Separately, the national disaster agency said at least eight people had died in an area south of Mamuju, a city of some 110,000 in West Sulawesi province, bringing the total death toll to 34.

The earthquake came after a 5.9-magnitude tremor and at least 26 aftershocks the previous day, in a string of disasters that caused three landslides and damaged bridges to regional hubs such as the city of Makassar.

The tremors also damaged more than 60 homes, two hotels, and the provincial governor’s office. Electricity in the area is also out.

Regional government spokesman Safaruddin Sanusi said authorities desperately needed to restore communication networks, mend damaged bridges and deliver tents, foods and medical supplies.

Videos have shown residents fleeing to higher ground on motorcycles, and a child trapped under the rubble as people tried to remove debris with their bare hands.

Rescuers were searching for more than a dozen patients and staff trapped beneath the rubble of the levelled Mamuju hospital.

Thousands had fled their homes to seek safety when the quake hit just after 1 am local time on Friday. It was felt for about seven seconds.

The quake’s epicentre was 22 miles south of Mamuju and it had a relatively shallow depth of 18 kilometres, the United States Geological Survey said.

Straddling the so-called Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’, Indonesia, a nation of high tectonic activity, is regularly hit by earthquakes.

In 2018, a 7.5-magnitude quake and a subsequent tsunami in Palu on Sulawesi left more than 4,300 people dead or missing.

On December 26, 2004, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, including around 170,000 in Indonesia.

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