January 15, 2021, 12:22 PM
A strong earthquake in Indonesia, Sulawesi killed at least seven people and injured hundreds on Friday (Jan. 15), the country's National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) said.
The earthquake scored 6.2 on the Richter scale. Anything above 6.0 is considered to be a strong earthquake.
The epicentre of the quake was 6km northeast of Majene city, at a depth of 10km.
Thousands flee in the aftermath
According to the agency, thousands of residents fled home to seek safety in the aftermath. The quake hit just after 1:00am local time on Friday morning, damaging at least 60 homes.
While the quake was felt strongly for about seven seconds, it did not trigger a tsunami warning.
Videos on social media showed residents fleeing to higher ground on motorcycles, and reports of a child trapped under the rubble as people tried to remove debris with their bare hands.
Two children trapped in the rubble of the building. These are victims of the #earthquake in West Sulawesi, Indonesia which occurred at around 02.20 AM Jan 15, 2021, with a magnitude of 6.2 on the Richter scale. @UN @USGSted @cnn @ABC @Reuters @EQTW pic.twitter.com/254wgE9g5b
— zulfanny (@zulfanny) January 15, 2021
Um #Sismo de magnitude 5,7 abalou a regência de #Majene, West #Sulawesi (#Sulbar) na #Indonesia, e seus arredores na manhã desta quinta-feira (14).#Terremoto #Gempa #gempamajene #earthquake #Mamuju #Kabupaten #URGENTE #BreakingNews #tremor #Temblor #UltimaHora #14deEnero pic.twitter.com/bXVl2ARb7D
— Universo News 🇧🇷 (@UniversoNews1) January 14, 2021
Initial information from BNPB showed that there were four people who had died and 637 others injured in Majene, while three more fatalities and two dozen injured came from the neighbouring province of Mamuju.
Moderate earthquake only hours earlier
A 5.9-magnitude earthquake had hit the same district only hours earlier on Thursday.
According to CNA, BNBP had said that "a series of quakes in the past 24 hours had caused at least three landslides, and the electricity supply had been cut."
The earlier earthquake saw several houses damaged, and one injured.
The last major Sulawesi earthquake that caused a significant number of casualties happened in 2018, at 7.5-magnitude.
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