6.7-magnitude earthquake hits Indonesia's Nusa Tenggara

2009/11/09

BANDARLAMPUNG: An earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale hit West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) today at 2.41 a.m. local time (WIB), the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said.

The temblor had its epicenter 8.24 degrees southern longitude and 118.65 degrees eastern latitude, 28 kilometers northwest of Raba in West Nusa Tenggara, at a depth of 25 kilometres, Indonesia's Antara news agency reported.

The BMKG said the epicenter was also located 139 kilometers northwest of Labuhanbajo (East Nusa Tenggara), 139 kilometers northeast Sumbawa Besar (West Nusa Tenggara), 205 kilometers northwest of Ruteng (East Nusa Tenggara) and 208 kilometers northeast Taliwang (West Nusa Tenggara).

The earthquake is the fifth that struck Indonesia in November 2009, after Bengkulu was hit by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale at 5:50 a.m. on Nov 1.

Bengkulu was last hit by a powerful quake with a magnitude of 7.9 in September 2007 when at least six people were killed and tens of others injured.

A quake also struck Papua province and neighboring Timor Leste on Nov 5 and Nov 7 respectively.

Papua was hit by a 5.8-magnitude quake, and Timor Leste by a 5.3-magnitude quake. - Bernama