JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP) — A strong earthquake struck Indonesia’s easternmost province of Papua early Tuesday panicking people with at least one teenager missing after possibly drowning in a river. Several buildings and houses were either destroyed or damaged.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-7.0 underground quake struck at 6:41 a.m. Tuesday (2141 GMT) and was centered 247 kilometers (153 miles) west of Jayapura, the provincial capital of Papua.
Its depth was measured at 52.9 kilometers (32.8 miles) beneath the remote mountainous region of the island.
“Everyone panicked, they were running from their houses,” said Yonas Taufudu, a disaster mitigation official in Jayapura, the capital of Papua province.