Thousands of people evacuated after Halmahera earthquakes

Thousands of people evacuated after Halmahera earthquakes
Kamis, 26 November 2015 21:00 WIB


Solo (ANTARA News) - The continuous earthquakes that rocked the West Halmahera district of the North Maluku Province from November 16 to 25 have resulted in the evacuation of 9,610 people from their residences.

"At least 611 earthquakes occurred between November 16 and 23," the Chief of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho stated in a press release on Thursday.

Thousands of people from 19 villages in the Jailolo sub-district of the West Halmahera District were evacuated. However, some of the evacuees still carried out their activities during the day.

The continuous earthquakes have led to 237 houses experiencing severe damage, 193 undergoing medium damage and 504 suffering from minor damages. The officers also found 11 public facility buildings that were damaged and the tremors, which also created 500 meter-long cracks in the Galala village.

The Head of the West Halmahera District has announced an emergency situation for 14 days and deployed 75 emergency joint personnel.

The North Maluku Province's administration has delivered 400 cartons of instant noodles and mineral water each. The regional disaster mitigation agency in West Halmahera has also distributed some aid to the evacuation post.

The government has created a team to verify the damaged houses discovered by the national and regional mitigation agency officers, the public works officers, as well as military and police personnel.

The mitigation agency has also asked people to be vigilant and calm while facing the tremors. The agency said the earthquake that occurred in West Halmahera was a continuous earthquake, with the strength of below 5 on the Richter scale.
(Uu.B019/INE/KR-BSR/A014)