No fewer than four people were killed Thursday when an earthquake struck the capital of Indonesia’s breakaway eastern region of Papua and crumpled a waterfront restaurant, officials said.
The 5.1-magnitude quake hit around 1.28 pm (0628 GMT) on land just southwest of Jayapura city at a depth of 22 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.
‘A cafe collapsed and four people died there. It fell into the sea,’ Asep Khalid, head of the Jayapura disaster mitigation agency, said in a press release.
Residents in Jayapura said people scrambled for safety, running from houses and shops when the quake struck.
Putri Kurita, 30, bolted for the exit at another restaurant fearing it would collapse.
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‘I was having lunch when things suddenly swayed, the jolt got much stronger,’ she told reporters.
The country’s meteorological agency gave a higher magnitude of 5.2 and warned of potential aftershocks.
Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’, where tectonic plates collide.
The region affected by Thursday’s quake is home to a decades-long insurgency waged by rebels seeking independence from Indonesia.
Africa Today News, New York reports that more than 100 people were killed in a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday. The earthquake destroyed numerous houses while people were still sleeping, and it also caused tremors that could be felt as far away as Egypt and the island of Cyprus.
The initial death toll in Turkey was 76, according to emergency service officials, but because the nighttime calamity had destroyed dozens of residential towers around major cities, the number threatened to rise significantly higher.
According to state media and a nearby hospital, at least 50 people also perished in Syria’s government- and pro-Turkish factions-held northern regions.