The death toll from an earthquake that rocked Indonesia’s remote Maluku islands rose to 30 yesteray, including several toddlers, the disaster agency said.
On Thursday, residents ran into the streets as buildings fell in around them when the magnitude 6.5 tremor struck, sparking landslides that buried at least one of the people who died.
Among the confirmed dead were three young children, with many people killed by falling debris in and around quake-struck Ambon city.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The region’s governor has declared a state of emergency until Wednesday next week, the agency said.
“As of Sunday morning, 30 people died and 156 were injured,” Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management spokesman Agus Wibowo said.
On Friday, the agency had revised down the official death toll of 23 to 19 after officials realized that some of the deceased has been double-counted.
At least 25,000 people had to flee because their houses were damaged by the strong jolt, Wibowo said previously.
Hundreds of houses, offices, schools and public facilities were also been damaged in the disaster. Authorities have set up emergency tents and public kitchens for the evacuees in several districts.
The US Geological Survey said the quake struck about 37km northeast of Ambon in Maluku province at a depth of 29km.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
RSS