The Jakarta Post, 1/22/2007 7:44:42 PM
Earthquake in North Sulawesi leaves 4 dead, 4 injured
MANADO, North Sulawesi (Agencies): A magnitude 6.5 earthquake in North
Sumatra's capital of Manado left four people dead and four injured when it rattled
buildings, causing panicked residents to flee homes, churches and shopping malls,
officials and witnessessaid Monday.
Three men died as they fled their homes in seaside Tuminting neighborhood in
northern Manado, Hani Solang, a subdistrict chief was quoted by AP news agency as
saying.
The fourth person was a woman who died suffered a heart attack, apparently triggered
by the shock of Sunday's powerful quake, said a doctor in Manado.
The quake struck 10 kilometers beneath the Maluku Sea and was centered 130
kilometers (80 miles) from the Maluku capital of Ternate and 2,200 kilometers (1,400
miles) northeast of the national capital, Jakarta.
Meanwhile, Antara news agency reported that 40 tremors measuring from 4.5 to 5.8
Richter Scales followed the Sunday's strong earthquake. The Monday's tremors
caused panics among residents of the city.
Some buildings in Manado were left with cracks and other damage. Tsunami fears
sent hundreds of people running inland to higher ground or racing off in cars and on
motorcycles, causing massive traffic jams, witnesses said.
Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its
location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines
encircling the Pacific Basin.
In December 2004, a massive earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra island triggered a
tsunami that battered much of the Indian Ocean coastline and killed more than
230,000 people - 131,000 of themin Indonesia's Aceh province alone.
A tsunami off Java island last year killed nearly 5,000. (**)
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