Minor Damages Reported in 60 Houses Following Halmahera Earthquake

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Some 60 houses incurred minor damages after a 5.2-magnitude earthquake rattled Labuha, South Halmahera (Halsel), on Friday (Feb. 26), at around 6 p.m. Western Indonesian Standard Time (WIB), the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) confirmed.

The agency reported on Saturday that 80 members of 40 families were displaced and had evacuated themselves to safer places.

The quake, whose epicenter was located at 0.54 degrees Southern latitude and 127.51 degrees Eastern longitude, also caused damage to a local legislative council (DPRD) building and Labuha regional public hospital, thereby leading to the forced evacuation of the hospital's inpatients to temporarily emergency shelters.

The residents of Labuha Village fled their homes when they felt the earthquake for two to three seconds. The tremor also led to a power cut-off.

Residents of the districts of Bacan, South Bacan, East Bacan, West Bacan, North West Bacan, and Middle East Bacan also felt the earthquake, though it had no potential to trigger a tsunami.

The BNPB immediately deployed a Rapid Reaction Team (TRC) to assist the victims.

The earthquake's epicenter was located some 11 kilometers (km) southeast of Labuha Village, South Halmahera, North Maluku Province, and at a depth of 10 km below sea level.

Read: 4.6 M Earthquake Jolts Banten up to Pangandaran

ANTARA