JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – A strong and shallow earthquake shook the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia just after midnight, causing landslides and sending people fleeing their homes in the dark at night. At least three people have been killed and 24 injured, but Indonesian officials say they are still collecting information from the devastated areas.
In a video released by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, a girl trapped in the wreckage of a house called for help and said her mother was alive but could not get out. “Please help me, he is hurt,” the girl told the rescuers, who replied that they desperately want to help her.
In the film, rescuers said an excavator was needed to save them. Other images in the video showed a cut bridge and damaged and even flattened houses. TV stations reported that the earthquake damaged part of a hospital, and patients were moved to an emergency tent outside.
Another video showed a father crying hopelessly, asking for help from people to save his children buried under tons of rubble. “My children there … are trapped inside, please help,” he shouted in panic.
About 2,000 displaced people have been evacuated to several temporary shelters. The magnitude 6.2 earthquake on Friday was centered 36 kilometers south of Mamuju district in West Sulawesi province at a depth of 18 kilometers (11 miles), the US Geological Survey said.
At least 62 houses, a public health center and a military office were damaged in Mamuju, and landslides were triggered in three locations and blocked a main road linking Mamuju to Majene district, said Raditya Jati, the carrier. spokesperson for the disaster agency. He said the agency was still collecting data from the quake-hit areas.
On Thursday, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 hit the sea in the same region, damaging several houses, but did not cause any apparent casualties.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 260 million people, is frequently hit by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis due to its location on the “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific basin.