Indonesia quake kills at least one, homes collapse
JAKARTA, Nov 9 (Reuters) - A strong earthquake struck Indonesia's Sumbawa island early on Monday morning, killing at least one person and injuring around 80 after damaging homes, schools and mosques, a police official said.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicentre of the 6.7-magnitude quake was 15 km (10 miles) north-northwest of Raba, Sumbawa, at a depth of 18 km (11 miles).
There was no tsunami warning issued after the quake, which struck at 3:41 a.m. local time (1941 GMT Sunday).
Tjatur Aprianto, the police chief in Bima, a town in Sumbawa near the epicentre, said six people had been badly injured with three in a coma and one who later died.
The official said 72 people had suffered minor injuries, while authorities were still compiling damage estimates.
"Residential houses, school buildings, mosques have been damaged, but not all of the buildings are totally destroyed, part of them have collapsed," said Aprianto.
An official from Indonesia's meteorology agency earlier told Reuters there had been reports of panic in Mataram, the capital of the nearby island of Lombok, where a strong tremor was felt. Lombok, east of Bali, is popular with local and foreign tourists, while Sumbawa is mountainous and relies more on agriculture.
Indonesia is situated in an area of intense seismic activity known as the "Pacific Ring of Fire".
More than 1,000 people died after a powerful earthquake hit the city of Padang in West Sumatra in September.
Separately, a landslide in Palopo in South Sulawesi killed 8 people, while five others were missing, said Rustam Pakaya of the Indonesian health ministry's disaster agency. (Reporting by Sunanda Creagh and Telly Nathalia; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Jerry Norton)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved



