“The total number of people who died in the earthquake is 20,” national disaster mitigation spokesman Agus Wibowo said in a statement.

“At least 100 people were injured and more than 2,000 evacuated.”

Among those killed was an infant, he added.

Terrified residents ran into the streets as buildings fell in around them after the 6.5-magnitude quake hit at around 8.45 am local time (0045 GMT).

One person was buried in a landslide while others were hit by falling debris, the local disaster agency said earlier.

Another person died of a heart attack as the tremor hit, while one woman died after falling off her motorbike while fleeing to higher ground, officials said.

Residents in Ambon, a city of about 400,000 people, were seen helping injured residents with blood-stained clothes, while images showed wrecked homes with collapsed walls and rubble-strewn on the ground.

Some patients fled a local hospital as the quake hit, prompting officials to set up makeshift shelters outside the building, an official said.

“The impact was felt across Ambon city and surrounding areas,” said Rahmat Triyono, head of the earthquake and tsunami division at Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).

“Many people were woken up by the shaking … it felt like a truck was passing by.”

The US Geological Survey said the quake struck about 37km northeast of Ambon in Maluku province at a depth of 29km.

The area was hit by at least two dozen aftershocks including one that measured 5.6-magnitude, Triyono said.

“I was asleep with my family when suddenly the house started to shake,” said an AFP reporter in Ambon.

“The quake was really strong. We ran from our house and saw the neighbors fleeing too. Everybody was panicking.”

Architect Suryanto Soekarno said a construction site where he and his employees were working was rocked by the tremor.

“It was a really hard shock,” he told AFP.

“Filing cabinets fell over and my employees ran away to save themselves. Some were injured but thank God only with minor wounds.”

“NO NEED TO PANIC”

Initial reports said the quake struck offshore, but later analysis found it hit onshore, raising the potential for damage, according to Indonesia’s national disaster mitigation agency.

Local BMKG head Oral Sem Wilar called for calm.

“People were panicking and started to evacuate in some places, but we are trying to tell them there’s no need to panic because there’s no tsunami threat,” he told AFP.

Source: AFP/rw/nc

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/earthquake-strikes-eastern-indonesia-maluku-islands-11943828

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