Some 150 displaced people resided in Manukania Village in Sarmi Selatan Sub-district, while 90 others belonged to Togonfo Village in Ismari Sub-district, he noted here on Saturday.
People from Togonfo Sub-district decided to build tents as temporary shelters, while the Manukania Village residents were temporarily accommodated at the village hall, he revealed.
The epicenter of the quake that rocked the district's area on Thursday was located some 45 kilometers (km) away from southwest of Sarmi District's capital at a depth of 11 km.
Owing to its location on the Pacific ring of fire, Indonesia is prone to natural disasters, including earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
In 2018, a string of strong earthquakes had repeatedly hit Lombok Island in West Nusa Tenggara Province, resulting in grave catastrophes.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) reported that the strong earthquakes, including the 7.0-magnitude quake that had rattled Lombok Island on August 5, 2018, claimed the lives of at least 555 people.
Furthermore, the earthquakes resulted in injuries to over 800 people, damage to 23,098 houses, and forced displacement of 134,236 people.
In 2018, some 11,577 earthquakes hit Indonesia, including several of them that caused serious casualties, with the figure drastically increasing than that in 2017.
Head of the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Dwikorita Karnawati recently remarked that several earthquake-related events that had hit Indonesia last year were never witnessed earlier in the form of the liquefaction in Palu; tsunami that had hit earlier than the issuance of a warning in Palu; and the Sunda Strait Tsunami.
Indonesia is just one of the nations that had frequently borne the impact of a host of geophysical disasters, resulting in several fatalities and economic losses.
As published on the United Nations (UN) official website, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) noted that over the last two decades, disasters, including earthquakes and tsunamis, had claimed 1.3 million lives and caused injuries to 4.4 billion. Related news: Sarmi quake victims face shortage of tents, food
Related news: Sarmi District rattled by 6.3-magnitude quake
Translator: Hendrina DK, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Gusti Nur Cahya Aryani
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
