Strong earthquake rocks Indonesia's Sulawesi, causes damage

[News_Editor]

Strong earthquake rocks Indonesia's Sulawesi, causes damage

2011-04-25 12:52:10 GMT+7 (ICT)

KENDARI, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) -- A strong earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on early Monday morning, seismologists said, causing some damage but no casualties.

The 6.0-magnitude earthquake at 7.07 a.m. local time (2307 GMT Sunday) was centered about 75 kilometers (46 miles) south-southeast of Kendari, the capital of South East Sulawesi province. It struck about 18 kilometers (11 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to Indonesia's Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).

The United States Geological Survey (USGS), which measured the strength of the earthquake at 6.2 on the Richter scale, estimated that some 16,000 people may have felt 'severe' shaking that could potentially result in heavy damage. It estimated that some 369,000 others may have experienced 'strong' to 'very strong' shaking.

As of Monday afternoon, the Jakarta Globe reported that some houses had been damaged on Sulawesi. "There are houses [which have been] damaged. People are panicking and have rushed out from their houses," one local official was cited as saying by the newspaper.

There were no reports of casualties.

Indonesia is on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire', an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent and large earthquakes. Volcanic eruptions also occur frequently in the region.

On December 26, 2004, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded struck off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. The 9.1-magnitude earthquake unleashed a deadly tsunami, striking scores of countries. In all, at least 227,898 people were killed.

Most recently, on October 25, 2010, a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck just off the Mentawai Islands off the western coast of Sumatra. As a result, a wall of water killed at least 435 people on the islands and impacted more than 20 villages.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-04-25