Two earthquakes rock Indonesiahttp://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1196602/1/.html4/21/12
JAKARTA: A strong 6.6-magnitude earthquake rocked Indonesia's Papua region on Saturday, sending panicked residents running from their homes and schools, officials said.
Authorities said there was no threat of a tsunami, and that the worst-hit area was the town of Ransiki in western Papua, where students attending morning classes ran from school buildings that shook for around a minute.
"We've had reports of mostly superficial damage to buildings, but two houses have caved and a church wall has collapsed," Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) official Yulson Sineri, told AFP.
"There are so far no reports of victims, but there has been some damage to buildings in Ransiki," he said.
The quake struck at 10:16 am (0116 GMT) at a depth of 30 kilometres (19 miles), 83 kilometres southeast of Manokwari, according to the USGS.
Authorities said the quake was felt in various parts of the West Papua province, on the western tip of New Guinea island.
The BMKG reported the quake's magnitude at 6.8, with a depth of 10 kilometres.
A hotel receptionist at the Mansinam Beach Resort in Manokwari reported a minute of shaking, but said she saw no damage.
"All our guests panicked and ran out of the building, but they went back after the quake was over and everything is back to normal as far as I can see," Anita, who goes by one name, told AFP.
The Papua region was struck by two mild aftershocks, while a 6.1-magnitude quake hit off Sumatra island, with no reports of damage or casualties.
Earlier on Saturday, a strong 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia's Sumatra island on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued.
The quake struck at 5:14 am (2314 GMT Friday) at a depth of about 34 kilometres (21 miles), 427 kilometres southwest of Banda Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra. There were no immediate reports of damage.
Aceh province was shaken earlier this month by two huge earthquakes, triggering an Indian Ocean-wide tsunami alert.
At a magnitude of 8.6, the first of the two quakes was the strongest to hit since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 170,000 in Aceh. No major damage was reported.