Four killed as quake strikes Papua

JAKARTA – A series of powerful earthquakes off the northern coast of West Papua, Indonesia, early yesterday killed four people, injured several others and flattened buildings, officials and local television said.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said a magnitude 7.6 quake occurred some 150 km northeast of Manokwari on the Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea, at a depth of 35 km. An official at Indonesia’s meteorology agency said there were several quakes in the area during the night.
‘Hotel Mutiara and tens of houses are flattened to the ground,’ Pitsau Amafnini, an eyewitness, told Reuters.
However, an important BP-led liquefied natural gas (LNG) project close to the area was not affected, a BP spokesman told Reuters.
Local media reported that the health, social, public works and transport ministers flew to the affected area, to take medicine, food, tents and cash for victims, and to inspect the local airport following a report that it had been damaged.
Manokwari, with a population of about 161 000, is in a remote, sparsely populated part of Papua which attracts tourists thanks to its diving sites, wildlife and spectacular scenery.
Predominantly Christian Papua, which occupies the western half of New Guinea island, has fewer than three million inhabitants out of Indonesia’s total population of 226 million.
Several different tribes, some animist, live in this part of Indonesia, which was under Dutch rule until 1963 and which, despite its vast natural resources, tropical forests, and mineral wealth, remains one of the poorest and least developed parts of the country.
The quake triggered a small tsunami that hit the Japanese coast but there was no damage, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said. The Indonesian authorities also issued a tsunami warning for Papua, but lifted it shortly afterwards.

‘RING OF FIRE’

Indonesia is located in an area of intense seismic activity known as the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’ and frequently experiences quakes and tsunami warnings.
A 9.15 magnitude earthquake on December 26, 2004, triggered a massive tsunami, killing about 230 000 people in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and other countries around the Indian Ocean.
Priyadi Kardono, spokesman for the disaster management centre, said the health ministry had confirmed four deaths from the quakes, while several buildings were damaged. Metro TV reported that six people had been hospitalised.
The BP-led Tangguh LNG project is near the area affected by the quakes.
‘There is no significant impact, only a crack in the office building. The work continues,’ BP spokesman Nico Kanter said, adding that employees at the Tangguh operations had felt the tremors.
BP’s Tangguh project includes an operating site in Bintuni Bay, which is about 100 km south of Manokwari, as well as offices in Babo, Sorong, Manokwari, Bintuni and Fak Fak, according to its website.
A spokesman for Australian disaster relief agency Emergency Management Australia told Reuters that the quakes were felt in Papua New Guinea, and in the northern Australian city of Darwin, but there were as yet no reports of major damage or injuries.
Papua New Guinea generally calls on Australia for help when major natural disasters occur. – Nampa-Reuters