Up till now officers of the North Tapanuli district administration are still working in the field to monitor what has been damaged or destroyed by the quakes.
Medan, N Sumatra (ANTARA News) - At least 376 houses were seriously or lightly damaged after two earthquakes each measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale jolted Tarutung, North Sumatra Province, on Tuesday.

The figure might increase as local officers were still assessing the extent of damage in affected areas, secretary of the North Tapanuli district administration Sanggam Hutagalung said here on Wednesday evening.

"Up till now officers of the North Tapanuli district administration are still working in the field to monitor what has been damaged or destroyed by the quakes," he said.

"The number of 376 damaged houses was based on data collected until 05.00 p.m. on Wednesday," he said.

The quakes also damaged a number of state buildings, including the offices of sub-district head and village head, school buildings, public health service post (puskesmas), and roads.

He said hundreds of residents who lost their houses in the quakes were being sheltered at command posts and tents provided by the government.

The first temblor which occurred at 07.08 a.m. on Tuesday was centered 30 km southeast of Tarutung with epicenter at 1.79 degrees northern latitude and 99.13 degrees eastern longitude, at a depth of 10 km below sea level, the national meteorological, climatology and geophysics office said Tuesday.

The epicenter of the second quake which happened at 10.01 a.m. was located at 1.83 degrees northern latitude and 99.07 degrees eastern longitude, 22 km southeast of Tarutung.

(S012/A/H-NG/o001)

(ANTARA)

Editor: Ella Syafputri
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