Earthquake wrecks buildings and makes hundreds distressed

Natural disasters are not alien to Jakarta, the capital and largest city of Indonesia located on the island of Java and this year also a deadly earthquake has ravaged it to a great extent. According to the discretion of the Health Ministry, more than 300 buildings were seriously damaged and that led to the evacuation of over 3,000 people from their homes and the deadly zone as well. It has been learnt, the quake that rocked North Sulawesi province had a 7.4-magnitude. Well, the residential buildings were not only affected. There was the inclusion of houses, religious centers, school buildings and hospitals almost equally. However, the Ministry has had a sigh of relief due to the absence of any casualty.

Speaking on this Rustam Pakaya, Head of the crisis center of the Health Ministry, told to Xinhua, “A total of 278 houses were seriously damaged and 197 others suffered from minor damages, 4 school buildings were also damaged.” He said that on account of the fatal earthquake two religious buildings were also seriously damaged and a part of a hospital building was collapsed. “Ten people were wounded seriously in the quake and 32 others were injured. But there was no report of fatalities,” he added.

What is the present condition of the evacuees? As stated by governmental information, the evacuees, for the time being, are living in some shelters in the province after their houses were destroyed by the quake. What have been the governmental reactions to this natural crisis of the worst type? Extensive relief measures have been started that include shelters and foods. There is also a medical team for helping the distressed people.

The quake happened at 00:34 Jakarta time (1734 GMT) with epicenter at 112 km southeast Melongue of the province and at 10 km undersea bed, said Sutiyono, official of the country’s Meteorology Agency.

It should be remembered tsunami triggered by strong quake rocked several areas of Indonesia in December 2004.