The buildings fell in
Biak and Yapen, islands off the northern coast of Papua in the
easternmost part of Indonesia, news agencies reported.
The victims were crushed
under their collapsed homes on Yapen island, police said.
Homes,
buildings collapse
At least 20 homes collapsed on Yapen and several buildings fell in Biak, officials said.
At least 20 homes collapsed on Yapen and several buildings fell in Biak, officials said.
"Two people have been
evacuated to General Hospital in Biak as they got serious injuries in
the quake," a health ministry officials told Xinhua over phone.
The strongest quake,
reported by the U.S. Geological Survey to be magnitude 7.0, struck at
12:16 p.m. local time (11:16 p.m. Tuesday ET). The epicenter was 18
miles beneath the ocean floor off the northern coast of Papua province. A
6.4 quake preceded the largest shaker, which was followed a half-hour
later by a 5.1 temblor, and a 6.2 rocker 20 minutes later.
Yapen island, with a
population of about 70,000 people, appeared to be the worst-hit area
with one church destroyed and at least 150 homes damaged, police said.
Tsunami fearsIn
the town of Biak, hundreds of people ran out of their homes on the
reef-fringed tropical island around lunchtime, resident Yan Pieter
Yarangga told The Associated Press. Fearing a tsunami, people fled
beaches and some raced for higher ground.
"I ran too, I was afraid there would be a second
quake," said Yarangga.
When
the electricity went out, some women and children started screaming in
terror, said Sgt. Junaidi, a local police official, who like many
Indonesians goes by one name. "Many were crying, they were so afraid of a
tsunami."
Biak
resident Osibyo Wakum said he was driving his car to the office when the
quake hit.
"I felt
a huge tremor for about one or two minutes; the car was being flung
around," Wakum said.
In
the West Papua provincial capital of Manokwari, people fled to open
spaces as buildings swayed and the earth shook.
"There was a swaying
movement for about 40 seconds. People ran out of their homes, shouting
'get out, get out, the earth is shaking'," said an AFP correspondent in
the town.
Many
people remained outside as powerful aftershocks rattled the region.
Warning lifted
The Indonesia Meteorology and Geophysics Agency initially said the strongest in the quake series had the potential to trigger a tsunami, but the warning was later lifted.
The Indonesia Meteorology and Geophysics Agency initially said the strongest in the quake series had the potential to trigger a tsunami, but the warning was later lifted.
Earlier in the day, a magnitude-5.3 quake on Sulawesi
island, nearly 1,200 miles to the west, triggered landslides that badly
damaged at least 50 homes, killing one person, the official Antara news
agency reported. Others were injured, but it was not immediately clear
how many.
Indonesia
straddles a series of fault lines that make the vast island nation
prone to volcanic and seismic activity. A giant quake off the country on
Dec. 26, 2004, triggered the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000
people, half of them in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.
The quake that hit
Wednesday was located more than 2,000 miles from the country's capital,
Jakarta.