JAKARTA (INDONESIA) – At least seven people were killed and hundreds injured on Friday when a 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, damaging many buildings, said the disaster mitigation agency of the nation. Panic stricken residents have fled to safer areas.
The epicentre of the tremors is six kilometres northeast of Majene city at a depth of 10 kilometres.
The disaster mitigation agency’s initial reports said there were four fatalities and 637 injured people in Majene while there were three more deaths and two dozen injured people in neighbouring Mamuju.
When the tremors rocked Sulawesi at 1 am local time, thousands left their homes and fled to safer areas. At least 60 houses have been damaged, said the agency.
Although the quake was felt for several seconds, there was no tsunami alert.
Video footage showed residents fleeing to higher ground on motorbikes and people removing debris with their bare hands to rescue a trapped child.
Some buildings suffered extensive damage, including two hotels, the office of the governor and a mall, said Sudirman Samual, a local journalist.
Damage to a bridge has cut off one route to Mamuju.
The same district experienced another quake of 5.9 magnitude hours earlier on Thursday, damaging several houses.
According to the nation’s disaster agency, a series of tremors in the past 24 hours had triggered at least three landslides, snapping power lines.
