A major aftershock rattled the northwestern Papua town of Nabire on Saturday, one day after a powerful quake killed 24 people in the same town.
Tanto, of the National Earthquake Centre at the meteorology and geophysics bureau, said the aftershock measured 6,2 on the Richter scale and was centred ”in the same general area” as the quake measuring 6,9 that devastated Nabire on Friday.
France’s earth sciences observatory in Strasbourg reported a powerful quake measuring 7,5 on the Richter scale hit the northwest of Indonesia’s Papua province early on Saturday, located at 4,26 degrees south and 134,3 degrees east.
Tanto said his centre had not recorded anything that large on Saturday and had not yet received reports of fresh damage in Nabire.
The aftershock appeared to be the same one described by Tarnado, a Nabire resident, who told local radio he saw water sloshing inside a dispenser during a Saturday morning aftershock that left him fearful that another quake could occur even larger than Friday’s.
Fauzi, head of the earthquake centre, said such fears are unfounded. But he said that aftershocks will likely be felt in Nabire over the coming week.
The death toll in Friday’s quake rose by one to 24 from the 23 recorded on Friday, said the Indonesian Department of Health Crisis Centre in a statement on Saturday. — Sapa-AFP