Indonesian Earthquake Kills 70

SOLOK, Indonesia (AP) – A powerful earthquake jolted western Indonesia on Tuesday, killing at least 70 people and injuring hundreds as they fled shaking hotels, homes and hospitals. Two children were crushed by debris on a playground.The 6.3-magnitude quake struck Sumatra island just before 11 a.m. and was felt as far away as neighboring Malaysia and Singapore, where some tall buildings were evacuated. Several aftershocks followed, the strongest measuring 6.1, adding to fears of people already too nervous to return indoors.Many said they would sleep in front of their homes or in the hills Tuesday night.“Women were crying out in terror. We all just fled as quickly as we could,” said Alpion, a welder who joined thousands of others running to higher ground, fearing a tsunami that never came.Indonesia straddles one of the world’s most seismically active zones and has been hit by a string of natural disasters in recent years, the most deadly being the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed 160,000 people on Sumatra’s northern tip.At least 70 people were killed by Tuesday’s quake, which hit the island’s western coast, Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi told reporters in the capital, Jakarta.The hardest-hit area appeared to be Solok, a bustling town close to the epicenter, where two children were killed when a two-story building collapsed on the school playground, said police spokesman Supriadi, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. In addition, three members of one family were burned alive when their collapsed home burst into flames.Dozens of buildings were destroyed and hundreds of others were damaged, according to local police chief Lieutenant Colonel Budi Sarwono. TV footage showed a flattened three-story home and wide cracks in the road.“My house is on the brink of collapse,” said Imelda Kusmawati, as she prepared to spend the night in an army tent with her two children and six other families. “I am still traumatized and worried about aftershocks.”Patients poured into hospitals in Solok, many with broken bones and cuts, but most were treated outside because of fears of more quakes. Scores were laid out on cots on a soccer field, where they were attached to intravenous drips and given emergency care.“So far we have recovered 19 bodies and hundreds of injured people,” Colonel Sarwono said of the toll in Solok. “The two hospitals are overwhelmed.”At one hospital in the nearby seaside town of Padang, panicked doctors and nurses fled into the street, startled patients limping behind, according to Metro TV. Electricity remained cut in parts of the town as darkness fell.A witness in the town of Payahkumbuh said several shops in the main street had collapsed and police and soldiers were digging for survivors.Government spokesman Hasrul Piliang said the number of dead “would likely rise” because tallies from remote areas were still being collected and there were reports of other people trapped under debris.The U.S. Geological Survey said the tremor struck 20 miles below Solok. It was felt in Singapore, 265 miles away, forcing the evacuation of several older office buildings. In Malaysia’s southern coastal city of Johor, citizens fled offices, buildings and shopping centers, witnesses said.American earthquake expert Kerry Sieh was in Padang on a research trip when the quake struck. He fled his fourth-story hotel room like other guests, stopping only to unplug his laptop.“I was pretty scared,” he said, adding that the fault that spawned the quake was known as the Great Sumatran, which last ruptured in 1945. “I now know why people have a hard time remembering how long earthquakes last.”Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.In addition to the 2004 tsunami, an earthquake killed nearly 5,000 on Java island last year.Tuesday’s quake was about 660 miles west of the Jakarta.

Indonesian Earthquake Kills 70

Indonesian Earthquake Kills 70

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