JAKARTA (INDONESIA) – At least seven people were killed and hundreds have been injured in a 6.2-magnitude earthquake that hit Indonesia’s Sulawesi island. The quake is said to have flattened hospitals and damaged a number of buildings on Friday.
The epicentre of the quake was six kilometres (3.73 miles) northeast of Majene city at a depth of 10 kilometres, the country’s disaster mitigation agency said.
According to initial information from the agency, the number of deaths were declared as four with 637 injured in Majene. However, it was later reported that there were three more fatalities and two dozen injured in the neighbouring area of Mamuju.
The quake is said to have hit just after 1 am local time on Friday morning, damaging at least 60 homes, the agency said. Thousands had fled their homes to safer areas.
The quake was felt strongly for about seven seconds but did not trigger a tsunami warning. Some buildings were badly damaged, including two hotels, the office of the governor of West Sulawesi and a mall, Sudirman Samual. At least one route into Mamuju had been cut off, he said, due to damage to a bridge.
The same district has encountered a 5.9-magnitude earthquake on Thursday, damaging several houses.
Indonesia’s disaster agency said a series of quakes in the past 24 hours had caused at least three landslides, and the electricity supply had been cut.
Indonesia is a nation of high tectonic activity and is regularly hit by earthquakes as it is located in the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’.