Reuters
At least 7 people were killed and hundreds injured as a 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Friday, as panicked residents sought refuge in safer areas after a number of buildings were damaged.
The Disaster Mitigation Agency in Indonesia said, according to preliminary information, that 4 people were killed and 637 injured in the city of Mageni, but there are 3 other deaths and 24 injuries and missing in the neighboring Mamuju province, where a hospital collapsed and a number of people were trapped inside.
The epicenter of the earthquake was 6 kilometers to the northeast of Mageny, at a depth of 10 kilometers.
The agency said that thousands of people fled their homes when the earthquake struck shortly after 1 o’clock on Friday, local time, and that at least 60 homes were damaged.
Video footage on social media showed residents fleeing to higher ground on motorcycles, a child trapped in rubble and people trying to remove the debris with their hands.
Residents felt the earthquake strongly for about 7 seconds, but the tremor did not trigger a tsunami warning, while the head of Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, Dwikorita Karnawati, said during a press conference that strong aftershocks may follow this earthquake, adding that what is not At least 26 aftershocks have occurred after two strong earthquakes in the region since Thursday afternoon.
The magnitude 5.9 earthquake occurred in the same area hours earlier, Thursday, and damaged a number of homes.
The Disaster Mitigation Agency said that a series of earthquakes occurred during the past 24 hours and caused at least three landslides and cut off electricity supplies.
Indonesia is located in an area of seismic activity known as the Ring of Fire.
Source: Reuters + AFP
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