UPDATES WITH RESCUE DETAILS
By Ainur Rohmah
TUBAN, Indonesia (AA) – A strong earthquake shook the north of Indonesia’s Sumatra island Wednesday morning, killing nearly 100 people and causing hundreds of buildings to collapse.
The disaster management agency said that 94 people were confirmed dead as of 8.30 p.m. (1330GMT), while more than 620 others sustained injuries — 128 of them severely.
The agency’s spokesman, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, had earlier told a televised press conference that an undetermined number of people were believed to be trapped in buildings in Aceh province, and local authorities have declared an emergency until Dec. 20.
Aceh’s army chief, Tatang Sulaiman, was quoted by kompas.com as saying that troops and police from three districts will be deployed to speed up ongoing efforts to rescue those trapped in the rubble after the magnitude 6.5 temblor.
The chief of neighboring Pidie Jaya 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.
Nugroho said in an earlier statement that the earthquake 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 — the majority in Aceh — as it tore along the coasts of Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
