DOMPU, Indonesia (AFP) — A 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia's Sumbawa island Monday, killing three, injuring 45 and damaging hundreds of homes, officials said as aftershocks rattled nerves.
Some buildings collapsed in Dompu and Bima districts as officials rushed to reach remoter areas and frightened residents clustered outdoors.
Health ministry spokesman Rustam Pakaya told AFP that three people had died, including a five-year-old boy, while 45 people had been injured. He did not provide any further details on the fatalities.
Most of the injured were being treated at the general hospital in Dompu, one of the worst-affected districts, said a doctor there, Suriyani.
"We received 34 people injured. Some with slight injuries have gone home already but some 20 people are still under hospital treatment, with broken bones, open wounds and head injuries caused by collapsing walls," she told AFP.
Siti Hajar, Bima health ministry chief, told AFP that one person had been hospitalised and 10 others had slight injuries.
She said 20 houses had been destroyed and hundreds more damaged.
Suhartomo, her counterpart in Dompu, said that 10 houses had collapsed in Dompu town and about 90 percent had suffered cracks. Officials were headed to the worst hit area of Kilo to check conditions there, he added.
The Indonesian meteorological agency measured the quake at 6.7, though the US Geological Survey (USGS) later revised its same initial calculation down to 6.4.
The earthquake, which hit at 12:02 am (1602 GMT), occurred 44 kilometres (27 miles) west of Raba and 349 kilometres east of Denpasar, Bali, at a depth of 30 kilometres, the USGS said.
Repeated aftershocks -- including one measuring 5.6 -- triggered panic, residents said.
ElShinta radio reported that about 100 people in Bima town rushed to higher ground when the large aftershock hit, fearing a tsunami.
"People screamed and ran out of their houses. They're staying now outside on the street and some prefer to stay at the soccer field -- nobody is in their house," resident Adit told the station.
Nuraini, a worker at the health ministry in Dompu district, told AFP she was in her office when the largest aftershock struck.
"We rushed outside. It was actually not strong but we're traumatised. I'm still outside," she told AFP, speaking by mobile phone.
Welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie told ElShinta radio that it "appeared that the local government is able to handle the problems" following the quake but staff had been sent from Jakarta to investigate and would assist if needed.
The Indonesian meteorological agency said a tsunami warning was issued for the original quake, though for technical reasons it was not sent as usual by text message to media.
The powerful quake was felt on the nearby resort islands of Lombok and Bali.
The Indonesian archipelago sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where continental plates meet and cause frequent seismic and volcanic activity.
Sumbawa is located about 1,200 kilometres east of the capital Jakarta, separated by narrow straits from the islands of Lombok and Flores in the archipelago of West Nusa Tenggara.
The area has seen deadly disasters in the past, including a tsunami that hit Flores in 1992, which killed more than 2,000 people, and the eruption of Tambora on Sumbawa in 1815, which led to tens of thousands of deaths both from the eruption and subsequent crop loss and famine.
Indonesia was the nation worst hit by the earthquake-triggered Asian tsunami in December 2004, which killed 168,000 people in Aceh province alone.
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