62 injured in Indonesia quake

Jakarta, Sep 25 : At least 62 people were injured and 200 houses were damaged in the earthquake that hit Papua in Indonesia, country's disaster management agency said on Friday.

Among the injured, 17 are in critical conditions, Xinhua news agency quoted Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of national disaster management agency, as saying.

The earthquake, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, jolted Papua on Thursday forcing panic evacuation of some locals, Sutopo said.

However, no trace of tsunami has been monitored, said an official of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes as it sits on a vulnerable quake-hit zone called "The Pacific Ring of Fire".

IANS