The Sydney Morning Herald, January 29, 2006
Earthquake causes panic in Indonesia
A magnitude 7.7 earthquake jolted a 2000-kilometre swathe of Indonesia for two
minutes, sending panicked residents fleeing to higher ground, fearful of a tsunami.
There were no immediate reports of a tsunami, injuries or serious damage.
The quake struck early yesterday morning deep beneath the Banda Sea about 195
kilometres south of Ambon city in the Maluku Islands, the US Geological Survey said
on its web site.
Hundreds of people ran from their homes in some Maluku cities and in East Timor,
440 kilometres to the south, said residents contacted by telephone.
"We poured into the streets in panic and ran immediately to higher places fearing a
tsunami," said Salman Rumalesin, a resident of Bula, a Maluku mining town.
The quake caused cracks in some buildings in Ambon as well as in the Timor Hotel in
Dili, the capital of East Timor, witnesses said.
"In addition to Ambon and other towns in Maluku, the quake also was felt in Sorong,
Kupang, Waingapu, Makassar and Bali," Jusuf, an official at Indonesia's
meteorological agency who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told the
Associated Press.
Kupang and Waingapu are in the East Nusa Tenggara province while Makassar is in
South Sulawesi.
The quake struck at 1.58 am local time at a depth of 342 kilometres, according to the
US Geological Survey.
AP
Copyright © 2005. The Sydney Morning Herald.
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