Indonesian Quake Displaces More Than 43,000 People

Residents gather outside a damaged mosque after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck Pidie, Aceh, on Dec. 7.

Jakarta, 10 Rabi’ul Awwal 1438/10 December 2016 (MINA) – The number of people displaced by an earthquake that devastated parts of Indonesia’s Aceh province has jumped to more than 43,000, an official said Saturday.

More than 11,600 houses were damaged as a result of Wednesday’s quake, which also killed at least 101 people and injured more than 800, DPA quoted the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Nugroho as saying.

Authorities had earlier put the number of displaced people in the three worst-hit districts at 22,000.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited the quake-torn area on Friday and promised to rebuild homes and places of worships.

The quake struck just before dawn, with the epicentre 18 kilometres north-east of Pidie Jaya at a depth of 10 kilometres.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area noted for frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

A magnitude-9.1 earthquake off Sumatra island on December 26, 2004, spawned the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in 11 countries, including about 180,000 in Aceh alone. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)