Four killed, buildings damaged as earthquake hits eastern Indonesia

 

People standing on the roofing of collapsed shops in the port after a 5.1-magnitude earthquake in Jayapura, Indonesia's eastern province of Papua. - AFP

JAKARTA (Xinhua): Four people were killed and several houses and buildings destroyed after a 5.4 magnitude earthquake jolted eastern Papua province on Thursday (Feb 9), a disaster agency official said.

"The jolts of the quake were felt strongly here. They damaged houses, a restaurant and buildings," Jonathan Koirewoa, manager of the operation control center for the provincial disaster management and mitigation agency, told Xinhua via phone.

"Four people were killed during the earthquake. Now we are carrying out risk assessments of the quake," he said.

The country's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency reported the earthquake struck at 13.28pm local time with its epicentre located 1km southwest of the provincial capital of Jayapura and a depth of 10km.

The earthquake did not have the potential to trigger a tsunami, it said.

Several aftershocks occurred after the main shock, according to the agency. - Star