Strong 7.0-Magnitude Quake Rocks Papua’s Indonesia
KABUL: (Middle East Press) A strong 7.0-magnitude earthquake has struck Indonesia’s Java Island, the US Geological Survey says.
The quake hit at 6.41 a.m. on Monday local time in Indonesia, almost 250 kilometers west of the densely populated provincial capital, Jayapura.
“The quake was felt very strongly for four seconds,” disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told the AFP news agency.
“Residents panicked and rushed out of their home,” he added.
Nugroho told reporters that there were no initial reports of damage. However, he added that the region around the epicenter, in Indonesia’s remote east, was difficult to reach, and data was still being collected.
According to Nugroho, a 15-year-old boy was feared to have drowned after falling into a river in Memberamo, a mountainous district close to the epicenter. It is being reported that electricity was cut in some places, including a hospital, which was briefly evacuated.
A disaster assessment team and emergency supplies were reportedly being flown to the affected areas.
Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago, and is prone to earthquakes due to its location on an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin, known as the “Ring of Fire.”
