JAKARTA – At least three people were killed and large buildings, including a hotel, collapsed when a 6.2-magnitude earthquake rocked Indonesia’s Sulawesi today, said authorities.
“Three people are dead and 24 are injured,” said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Raditya Jati.
The country’s search-and-rescue agency confirmed that at least one hotel collapsed after the quake struck at 2.18am local time (1818 GMT yesterday).
The epicentre was 36km south of Mamuju, the capital of West Sulawesi, and the quake had a depth of 18km, said the United States Geological Survey.
Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide.
In 2018, a 7.5-magnitude quake and a subsequent tsunami in Palu, Sulawesi, left more than 4,300 people dead or missing.
On December 26, 2004, a 9.1-magnitude temblor struck off the coast of Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, including some 170,000 in Indonesia. – AFP, January 15, 2021
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