At least nine people were killed and more than one hundred
feared injured after a strong earthquake measuring 7.9 on the
Ritcher Scale hit the Bengkulu province of Indonesia on Wednesday,
the Disaster Management Agency said in Jakarta Thursday.
Agency official Firman Haye said that seven of the fatalities
were in Bengkulu city, capital of Bengkulu province, and two others
in Padang, capital of West Sumatra province.
Until Thursday morning, strong and moderate aftershocks
continued to hit Bengkulu province, leaving people afraid to return
home.
"Many of the people in the city built tents outside far from
buildings," provincial Red Cross worker Sugent Suyatno told Xinhua
News Agency.
Outside the biggest provincial hospital in the city, soldiers,
police and Red Cross staff built tents outside the cracked hospital
buildings as an extra precaution, said Suyatno.
"Over 160 patients have been evacuated from inside the hospital
building," he said.
Local television footage showed that patients lying on beds were
moved out of damaged hospital buildings in Bengkulu and West
Sumatra provinces.
(Xinhua News Agency September 13, 2007)
