A 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia's Sumbawa island yesterday, killing three, injuring 55 and damaging hundreds of homes as repeated aftershocks rattled nerves, officials said.
Buildings collapsed in Dompu and Bima districts and officials rushed to reach remote areas as frightened residents gathered outdoors, with some fleeing to higher ground in fear of potential tsunamis.
Health ministry spokesman Rustam Pakaya said that three people had died, including a five-year-old boy, while 55 people had been injured. He did not provide further details on the fatalities.
Most of the injured were being treated at the general hospital in Dompu, said a doctor there, Suriyani.
"We received 34 people injured. Some with slight injuries have gone home already but some 20 people are still under hospital treatment, with broken bones, open wounds and head injuries caused by collapsing walls," Suriyani said.
Siti Hajar, Bima health ministry chief, said that one person had been hospitalized and 10 others had slight injuries. She said 20 houses had been destroyed and hundreds more damaged.
Suhartomo, her counterpart in Dompu, said that 10 houses had collapsed in Dompu town and about 90 percent had suffered cracks.
Officials struggled to reach Dompu's Kilo area due to a quake-triggered stoneslide blocking the access road. Syafruddin, a paramedic at a health center there, said more than 100 houses were destroyed.
"People in Kilo, especially women and children, have been camping on higher ground since this morning in fear of another quake and a tsunami, as they live on the coast," Syafruddin said.
The Indonesian meteorological agency measured the initial quake at 6.7, though the US Geological Survey (USGS) later revised its same initial calculation down to 6.4.
The earthquake, which hit at 12:02am, occurred 44km west of Raba and 349km east of Denpasar, Bali, at a depth of 30km, the USGS said.
Repeated aftershocks -- including two measuring 5.6 and 5.7 -- triggered panic, residents said.
"People screamed and ran out of their houses. They're staying now outside on the street and some prefer to stay at the soccer field -- nobody is in their house," resident Adit told the ElShinta radio station.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS