We will send a team and the minister will leave for Pidie Jaya on Friday (Dec. 9)."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesia Geology Office said it will send a team to Pidie Jaya of Aceh, badly hit by a major quake on Wednesday morning.
The quake with a magnitude of 6.5 on the Richter scale hit at 05.03 local time with epicenter at 5.19 degrees north latitude and 96.38 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 10 kilometers.
The epicenter is 35.8 kilometers of the city of Bireun and 51.1 kilometers southeast of Sigli.
A number of building including three floor store and mosques were collapsed in hardest hit Ulle Glee, Pidie Jaya District with tens of people feared buried alive under the building debris, local authorities said.
There is no signs of tsunami as the center of the quake was on land, head of the Geology agency Ego Syahrial said.
Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa is scheduled to visit Aceh to see the extent of the damage and provide relief aid for people whose houses were destroyed especially in Pidie Jaya.
"We will send a team and the minister will leave for Pidie Jaya on next Friday (Dec. 9)," Director General of Protection and Social Security Harry Hikmat said on Wednesday.
Harry said Minister Khofifah is on a working visit to Papua as from Tuesday.
The quake ahead brought to memory devastating quake that trigger tsunami leaving hundreds of thousands of people in Aceh in the same month in 2004.
(Uu.H-ASG/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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