Indonesia: Tsunami warned following 6.2-magnitude earthquake in West Sulawesi
Jakarta (VNA) – Director of the Indonesian
Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) Dwikorita Karnawati has
warned of a potential tsunami from subsequent aftershocks following a 6.2-magnitude
earthquake striking Majene city, West Sulawesi province, in the early hours of January
15.
The epicentre of the quake was six kilometres northeast
of Majene, at a depth of 10 kilometres.
In an online press conference, Karnawati said the aftershocks could be as strong, or stronger, than
this morning's quake.
She has advised residents in the area to steer clear of high
buildings and beaches because the follow up quake had the potential of
triggering a tsunami or landslide.
It was reported that at least 34 people have been killed and
hundreds of other injured while more were feared buried in the ruins. In
Majene, rescue workers are trying to reach more than a dozen patients and staff
trapped beneath the rubble of a hospital that was flattened by the quake.
Thousands of people have been displaced following the
quake which damaged at least 60 houses.
The disaster mitigation agency said a hotel and the
office of the West Sulawesi governor were also severely damaged, and electricity
supplies were also down. Some roads and bridges were also damaged slowing down
the rescue operations.
Straddling the so-called Pacific ‘ring of fire’,
Indonesia, an archipelago of high tectonic activity, is regularly hit by
earthquakes.
In 2018, a devastating 6.2 magnitude quake and tsunami
struck the city of Palu, further north in Sulawesi, killing thousands of
people./.