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At least 34 die in island earthquake

ASTRONG earthquake has shaken Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, toppling homes and buildings, triggering landslides and killing at least 34 people. More than 600 people were injured during the shallow magnitude 6.2 quake, which sent people fleeing their homes just after midnight yesterday.

Authorities are still collecting information about the full scale of casualties and damage in affected areas. There were reports of many people trapped in the rubble of collapsed homes and buildings.

In a video released by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, a girl stuck in the wreckage of a house cried out for help and said she heard the sound of other family members also trapped.

“Please help me, it hurts,” she told rescuers, who said an excavator was needed to save the girl and others trapped in collapsed buildings.

TV stations reported the earthquake damaged part of a hospital and patients were moved to an emergency tent. About 15,000 displaced people were evacuated to temporary shelters.

The quake was centred 22 miles south of West Sulawesi’s Mamuju district, at a depth of 11 miles, the US Geological Survey said.

The disaster agency said the death toll climbed to 34 as rescuers in Mamuju retrieved 26 bodies trapped in the rubble of collapsed homes and buildings.

The agency said in a statement that eight people were killed and 637 injured in the neighbouring district of Majene.

On Thursday, a magnitude 5.9 undersea quake hit the same region, damaging homes but causing no apparent casualties.