At least seven people were killed and hundreds of houses damaged when a 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra early yesterday.
Rescuers were trying to reach 20 villages cut off by landslides triggered by the quake as there had been no contact with residents, police said.
The quake, which hit at 4:39am, was centred 150km southeast of Sibolga at a relatively shallow depth of 17.7km, geologists said.
Police in Panyabungan bordering South and West Sumatra said a family of four was killed after their home collapsed in Tamiyang village about 65km away.
The quake also damaged a large number of houses while key roads were blocked by landslides triggered by the quake, local police chief Rudi Sumarardiyanto told reporters.
"I'm unable to go to Tamiyang to get first-hand information on the situation. Local residents have come out to help clear the road and we have deployed two tractors," he said.
Some 20 villages out of 23 in the worst-hit district of Muara Sipongi were cut off, district police chief Pulungan told reporters.
The fate of the villages' residents was unknown and officials had not been able to make contact with them, Pulungan said.
Pulungan said 250 homes were damaged and 16 people suffered minor injuries in the three villages which were accessible.
Electricity supplies had been cut and landslides and rain were hampering rescue operations by some 100 police and soldiers.
"We have set up temporary shelters for those who have lost their homes and are providing them food," he said.
Three aftershocks sent residents rushing out of their homes in the area, where memories of the 2004 tsunami which devastated Aceh further north are still fresh, Sumarardiyanto said.
The earthquake was also felt 540km away in Singapore, the city-state's environment agency said.
Singapore local radio reported receiving calls from city residents who said their apartments had been shaken by the tremor.
The quake followed just half an hour after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit the north of Sumatra.
The first quake struck at 4:10am with its epicenter under the Indian Ocean south-southwest of Banda Aceh.
"These are moderate earthquakes," said Budiwaluyo, head of the earthquake information unit with the meteorology headquarters.
He said no tsunami warning was issued for the first quake as it was below 6.3-magnitude.
The Indonesian archipelago sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where continental plates meet, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.
Indonesia was the nation worst hit by the earthquake-triggered Asian tsunami in December 2004, which killed some 168,000 people in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS