UPDATES THROUGHOUT
By Ainur Rohmah
TUBAN, Indonesia (AA) – A strong earthquake shook the north of Indonesia’s Sumatra island Wednesday morning, killing at least 45 people and causing dozens of buildings to collapse.
The chief medical officer in Pidie Jaya Regency in Aceh Province said 41 were confirmed dead in the regency and four others in nearby Sigli, while 190 people were injured — dozens of them severly.
The chief of the regency’s disaster management agency, Puteh Manaf, had earlier expressed concerns that the death toll “could increase because data keeps entering into the post from some districts”, according to acehkita.com.
National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement that the earthquake of magnitude 6.5 hit at shallow depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles) after 5 a.m.
“The earthquake did not trigger a tsunami,” he said.
Amid the trembling, people rushed out of their homes in panic and strong shocks were felt across Pidie Jaya.
“According to an updated report from the local disaster management agency, there are a few houses and buildings that have collapsed,” Nugroho said.
Said Mulyadi, Pidie Jaya’s vice regent, was earlier quoted by detik.com as saying that evacuation efforts were underway.
President Joko Widodo ordered relevant authorities to tackle the disaster.
“I have received the report this morning. I order all related officials to address the disaster appropriate to their authority,” he said from the presidential palace.
Indonesia lies within the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide and cause frequent seismic and volcanic activity.
In June, a magnitude 6.5 tremor damaged buildings in western Sumatra Island, with its shocks reportedly felt in parts of Singapore and peninsular Malaysia to the north.
On Dec. 26, 2004, a magnitude-9.1 earthquake struck the eastern coast of Sumatra, causing a tsunami that killed around 230,000 people as it tore along the coasts of Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
