Indonesian quake damages buildings, 14 hurt

Jakarta, Dec 2: An earthquake on Sumbawa island in eastern Indonesia overnight has damaged houses and injured 14 people, a health official said today.

Rustam Pakaya, head of the health ministry's crisis centre said emergency officials were searching the area and the injured were treated in a hospital in Bima, a town in the eastern part of Sumbawa in West Nusa Tenggara province.

''There were no deaths, but 14 people were injured and were treated at Bima general hospital'', the official said by telephone.

''Several buildings collapsed such as the chamber of commerce building and around 20 houses in Bima itself.'' Bima is about 1,350 km (840 miles) southeast of the capital Jakarta.

Suwarto, an analyst at Indonesia's Geology and Meteorology agency said the quake struck just after 1950 hrs IST ysterday and was of a moderate magnitude of 5.8.

''We have not received any information about the impact but last night's quake could be felt very strongly in Bima,'' the official said by telephone.

The quake struck about 11 km northeast of Raba, the closest town to the epicentre, the official said.

The US Geological Survey put the quake at 6.3 in magnitude in a bulletin on its Web site.

A strong earthquake of magnitude 6.3 hit the northern part of Indonesia's Sumatra island earlier on Friday, although no damage or casualties were reported.

Earthquakes occur frequently in Indonesia, which lies along the ''Pacific Ring of Fire''.

REUTERS