Strong quake rocks Indonesia: 60 injured

A strong 6.6 earthquake struck eastern Indonesia on Friday. The tremor left at 60 60 people injured and over 200 houses damaged. A disaster agency official said and warned the number of victims could rise. People were woken up and ran out of their homes when the undersea quake, measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale, struck the Papua region of Indonesia in South Pacific at about 1:00am (1600 GMT) on Friday, not far from the coastal city of Sorong. Seventeen people were so far known to have sustained serious injuries and over 45 to have suffered minor injuries, while 200 houses were damaged, said disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. No deaths have so far been reported. The earthquake also caused blackouts in Sorong and patients were evacuated from a hospital in the city. The US Geological Survey put the earthquake’s magnitude at 6.6 and said its epicenter was at a depth of 24km, according to Al Jazeera.
- biplab