Earthquakes

Citation

(1999), "Earthquakes", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 8 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.1999.07308eac.005

Earthquakes

Earthquakes

30 November 1998 - Mangole Island, Indonesia

At least four people were killed after a huge earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale shook remote islands in eastern Indonesia late tonight, a local resident said today. "The information I have is that four people have died so far," a telephone company official, Udin, said from Mangole Island, near the epicentre of the quake and 1,250 miles north-east of the capital Jakarta. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was centred at lat. 01.9S, long. 124.8E, or some 230 miles south of the major city of Manado in Sulawesi. Locals in Mangole, fearing the quake would trigger a tsunami, fled coastal areas to high ground. However, Armando Cisterna, an expert at Strasbourg's Earth Physics Institute, said there was little risk of a major tsunami because of shallow waters and the type of quake and earth structure in the region.

At least five people were killed and more than 20 injured when a huge earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale shook remote islands in eastern Indonesia, sending houses sliding into the sea, police said today. They said the death toll from the quake, which struck late last night, could well rise because of damage to a local town and a timber factory. "At least five people died in landslides during the quake. We have found four bodies. One is still missing but is presumed dead," police sergeant Dedi told Reuters from Mangole Island. He said houses in the coastal areas fell into the sea and a main pier was also destroyed. "Most houses inside the town are totally destroyed. People are camping outside their houses because they are afraid of the aftershocks. There is a blackout in the town. We can't listen to news from our radios," Dedi said from the town of Falabesahaya. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was centred at lat. 01.9S, long. 124.8E, or some 230 miles south of Manado in Sulawesi. It struck at about 23.00 (14.00, UTC). Residents contacted in the major cities of Ambon, the capital of Indonesia's spice islands, and Manado in Sulawesi said they felt the tremors but there were no immediate reports of any casualties or serious damage.

1 December 1998 - The death toll has jumped to 25 as search teams find more dead and injured, a government official said today. "We are still looking for more victims," Sumadi, an official with the meteorology and geophysics Agency in Jakarta told Reuters, adding that 25 bodies had so far been found. Another 89 people were injured, 23 seriously, and hundreds of buildings destroyed. Most of the deaths were on the western part of Mangole, a timber producing island of 17,000 people near the quake's epicentre. Emergency shuttle flights resumed today, bringing in food, medicine and water and evacuating the injured to major cities nearby.