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Indonesia's West Papua closes local airport after earthquakes

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-04 13:53

JAKARTA-- Indonesian local authorities in West Papua province have stopped activities in Rendani Airport, Manokwari, on security and safety concerns following a series of earthquakes, the Jakarta Post reported.

The earthquakes, which hit West Papua province on Sunday morning, were ranging from 5.0 to 7.9 on the Richter scale.

The strongest 7.9-magnitude quake occurred at 4:33 a.m. local time on Sunday (1933 GMT Saturday), with its epicenter at 0.58 degrees southern latitude, 132.85 degrees eastern longitude and at a depth of 48 km beneath the seabed, the national Antara News Agency quoted the Indonesian Meteorological and Geophysics Agency (BMG) as saying.

Later a 7.6-magnitude aftershock struck at 7:33 a.m. local time (2233 GMT Saturday), with its epicenter at 0.88 degrees southern latitude, 133.38 degrees eastern longitude, and 76 km southwest of Manokwari, at a depth of 10 km below seabed.

According to Antara, the quakes caused at least four residents injured and a number of buildings, including two hotels, collapsed

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"Now, local people and security personnel are trying to help those being buried under the hotel's debris," said Senior Commissioner Agus Riyanto, a spokesman of the Papua Police. He added that there was no report of casualty in the temblor, but four residents were injured and rushed to the Manokwari public hospital.

However, another report from Antara said a 10-year-old girl died in the disaster, and another 37 were injured lightly. And Indonesia's leading website DetikNews quoted Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yodhyono as saying that the latest information showed that four people died from the disaster.