Indonesia earthquake kills more than 20 people

Indonesia earthquake kills more than 20 people
Around 15,000 people are in temporary shelters after 6.5-magnitude quake

A strong earthquake has killed 23 people and injured more than 100 on one of Indonesia‘s less populated islands, disaster officials say. 

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said most of the victims of Thursday's magnitude 6.5 quake in Ambon, the capital of Maluku province

The agency said that at least 117 houses and buildings were damaged and about 15,000 people were being housed in temporary shelters.

Parts of a building at an Islamic university also collapsed in Ambon, the capital of Maluku province.

Local disaster official Albert Simaela said a teacher was killed there when parts of the building fell on her.

The magnitude 6.5 quake was centred 33 km northeast of Ambon at a depth of 18 km, the US Geological Survey said.

Rahmat Triyono, head of Indonesia’s earthquake and tsunami centre, said the inland earthquake did not have the potential to cause a tsunami, but witnesses told television stations that people along coastal areas ran to higher ground in fear one might occur.

A powerful Indian Ocean quake and tsunami in 2004 killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia.

Based on AP

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