The powerful earthquake that rocked a remote eastern part of Indonesia’s Papua this morning killed a teenage boy who fell into a river as he fished and damaged several buildings.
The 7.0-magnitude quake struck inland in a mountainous area of Papua in the early hours, almost 250 kilometres (150 miles) west of the province’s capital Jayapura, the US Geological Survey said.
Rescuers were still trying to reach the area closest to the epicentre in Memberamo district, Nugroho added.
One house collapsed and another was partially damaged in Kasonaweja city, not far from the epicentre, while patients were evacuated from a hospital after its walls cracked, said local disaster agency official Yonas Taudufu.
A 15-year-old boy fell into a river where he was fishing and drowned when the quake hit, he said. Local people later recovered his body.
A 50-metre (160-foot) crack also appeared in a road.
Indonesian authorities and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no threat of any tsunami.
A huge undersea quake in 2004 triggered a tsunami that engulfed Aceh province on western Sumatra island, killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia and tens of thousands more in other countries with coasts on the Indian Ocean.
-AFP
