Powerful quake hits E. Indonesia
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Xinhua, November 14, 2011
A shallow undersea quake measuring 6.4 Richter scale struck off eastern parts of Indonesia on Monday, triggering panic, but, there were no tsunami warning and immediate report of casualty, officials said here.
The quake jolted at 11 : 05 a.m. Jakarta time (0405 GMT) with epicenter at 69 km southwest Labuha of North Maluku and with the depth at 10 km under sea bed, an official of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency named only Subagio told Xinhua by phone.
The Hong Kong Observatory said the quake was at 6.8 magnitude and the USGS said at 6.6 magnitude.
The intensity of the quake was felt at 4 to 5 MMI (Modified Mercally Intensity) in Labuha and 2 to 3 MMI in Ternate city of North Maluku, the official said. Co-chairman of the North Maluku Disaster Management and Mitigation Agency Salim Husain said that the officers from the agency had been observing the quake-affected area, including in the hardest-hit of Labuha. "Nevertheless, there was no any report of damages or those injured or killed so far. The quake only caused panic," he told Xinhua over phone at over 1.5 hours after the quake.
Patients at North Maluku General Hospital rushed to outside the building when the quake was shaking and were still reluctant to enter the building, Metro Television footage sowed. Indonesia is prone to earthquake as it lies on a vulnerable quake-hit zone so called "the Pacific Ring of Fire," where two continental plates meet that frequently caused seismic and volcanic movement in the country holed by 129 active volcanoes.
About 170,000 people were killed and huge infrastructures were seriously damaged in northern tip of Sumatra island of Indonesia on Dec. 2004 when Indian Ocean tsunami hit countries along the Ocean, that totally killed about 230,000 people.
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