Quake triggers panic and fire in Indonesia's West Papua

Asian Economic News, Jan 14, 2008

JAKARTA, Jan. 7 Kyodo

A strong earthquake shook Indonesia's West Papua Province on Monday, setting some houses on fire, damaging others and causing panic among residents, a meteorology agency official said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit about noon and had a preliminary magnitude of 6.2, with an epicenter at a depth of 35 kilometers about 8 km off the northern coast of Manokwari.

According to the Indonesian Meteorological and Geophysical Agency in Jakarta, the quake magnitude was 5.5 on the Richter scale with an epicenter on land 78 km southeast of the city of Sorong.

''There is a report that some houses were damaged because of the quake and another 21 houses were burnt down by fire triggered by the quake. But there has been no report of deaths so far,'' George Leskona, an official at a meteorological agency in Manokwari, told Kyodo News.

Leskona said people living in the coastal areas of Manokwari were fleeing in panic to higher ground because of fear of a possible tsunami.

Elshinta Radio reported that 23 wooden houses belonging to local fishermen in a coastal area burned down.

And employees of the largest supermarket in the town rushed in panic into the street when the quake caused large cracks in the supermarket building, the radio added.

Indonesia sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire where several tectonic plates meet and cause frequent earthquakes as the consequence of the activity of the plates.