A trade centre collapsed after a tsunami hit Palu city on Sulawesi island (Source: AFP/VNA) Jakarta (VNA) – At least five people went missing after a tsunami ravaged Palu, a small city on Sulawesi island in the central part of Indonesia on September 28 after a number of strong earthquakes had hit the area earlier the same day, announced national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
According to Reuters, the tsunami, with waves up to two metres in height, happened after a magnitude 7.5 quake hit the area in the afternoon of September 28.
It added that the tsunami pulled down buildings and washed a vessel ashore, but no casualties have been reported.
Indonesian authorities issued tsunami alert hours after a magnitude 6.1 earthquake destroyed houses in the same area. But it was lifted within the hour, however, local officials asked people in the affected area to remain on the alert as a number of moderate aftershocks hit the area.
The earlier quake killed at least one person and injured 10 others, local authorities said.
A series of earthquakes in July and August killed nearly 500 people on the holiday island of Lombok, hundreds of kilometres southwest of Sulawesi.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is regularly hit by earthquakes. In 2004, a big earthquake off the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami across the Indian Ocean, killing 220,000 people in 13 countries, including more than 168,000 in Indonesia.-VNA
VNA
