No fewer than four people have been killed by a 5.5 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia.
The quake that rocked the eastern province of the country on the afternoon of Thursday 9 February 2023, also left many others injured.
It was gathered that a floating restaurant collapsed into the sea during the incident and four women were unable to flee the collapsed building in time and were buried under the rubble.
They were found lifeless in the Jayapura Bay by responders.
‘A café collapsed and four people died there. It fell into the sea,’ Asep Khalid, head of the Jayapura disaster mitigation agency, said in a press release.
Putri Kurita, 30, bolted for the exit at another restaurant fearing it would collapse.
‘I was having lunch when things suddenly swayed, the jolt got much stronger,’ she told AFP.
Other infrastructure, including the Jayapura Mall, were reported to have been damaged. A number of residents were also injured.
The country’s geophysics agency said several aftershocks occurred after the main shock, which lasted a few seconds.
Video clips from the scene show locals stretchered out around the hospital, which was also reportedly damaged in the event.
A car showroom is also shown with broken window frames and glass shattered on the floor.
Indonesia’s meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency said the earthquake struck at 1:28 pm local time on Thursday, around one kilometre southwest of Jayapura at a depth of ten kilometres.
It comes just days after an earthquake in Turkey killed at least 15,000 people across the country and in neighbouring Syria.
