Indonesia earthquake: Hospital patients evacuated as buildings are damaged
PATIENTS were evacuated from hospitals in the city of Ternate, 80 miles from the epicentre of yesterday’s 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia, as nearby buildings were hit and damaged.
Indonesia: Map shows area of 7.1 magnitude earthquake
A tsunami warning was triggered by the tremor - the latest in a series which have rocked the country located in the so-called Ring of Fire, in recent months – but this has now been lifted, with no reports of major structural damage to the country. The quake, on Sunday, struck out at sea at a depth of 36 km (22 miles) off the northeastern coast of the island of Sulawesi, with several smaller aftershocks, geophysics agency BMKG said. Tremors shook buildings, alarming residents of some cities, and authorities urged people to move to higher ground.
Yusuf Latif, a spokesman for the search and rescue agency, said: “The quake was felt quite strongly and with an intensity that lasted quite long.
“There were no reports of damage or casualties in Ternate.
But some hospitals in the city, which is located about 80 miles (130 km) from the epicentre on the Maluku islands, suffered minor damage and had to evacuate patients, media said.
Strong tremors were felt for a few seconds in the nearby seaside resort city of Manado, residents said, but no damage was reported.
More than 200,000 terrified people fled to higher ground after yesterday’s quake.
A series of earthquakes centred on the Indonesian island of Lombok last August killed a total of 563 people and injured 1,000 more, with more than 417,000 people displaced from their homes.
The Ring of Fire runs 25,000 miles around the Pacific Ocean.
More than 450 volcanoes are located along there and it is where about 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes occur.
In 2011, an earthquake measuring 9.1 off the coast of the Japanese island of Tohaku, the most powerful ever recorded in the country, resulted in the deaths of almost 16,000.
A tsunami with waves of up to 133 metres travelled up to six miles inland.
In addition, three reactors at the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant went into meltdown, with hundreds of thousands of people evacuated.
The World Bank estimated the total cost to be more than £180billion, making it the most costly natural disaster in history.
Ring of Fire: Tectonic movements produce 90% earthquakes
Ben van der Pluijm, a scientist at the University of Michigan, told Express.co.uk last year Indonesia was actually located in what he called the “Horseshoe of Fire”, a kind of subsidiary of the Ring of Fire which is affected by different tectonic plates.
He added: “We have a good sense about the number on earthquakes there are around the world and the seismic events actually behave in quite an organised manner.
“We generally expect between 10 and 20 above 7.0 magnitude each year.
“The Ring is a huge geological feature and the primary source of major earthquakes and volcanoes in the world.
“For example Japan is in the Ring of Fire and Japan is basically one giant volcano.”