Quakes kill three in eastern Indonesia

A series of powerful earthquakes in remote eastern Indonesia killed at least three people today as it cut power lines, flattened a hotel and damaged other buildings, officials and witnesses said.

Five people were injured when several floors of the hotel collapsed in Manokwari, the provincial capital of West Papua, and a search was underway for people who might have been trapped in the rubble.

An emergency room assistant said the bodies of a man and boy were brought to a hospital.

The body of a 10-year-old girl also was found. “Her head was crushed,” hospital director Hengky Tewu said.

Nineteen people were treated for broken bones, cuts, crushed fingers and other injuries.

A magnitude 7.6 quake struck at 2:43 a.m. about 85 miles from Manokwari at a depth of 22 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The Indonesian Meteorology and Seismology Agency issued a tsunami alert but revoked it within an hour. Insignificant tsunami waves as high as 16 inches later hit the coast of Japan.

On the other hand, “since the epicenters were on land, they have a potential to cause significant damage,” said Rahmat Priyono, a supervisor at the National Earthquake Center.

The initial jolt was followed by a series of 10 strong aftershocks, including one that was magnitude 7.3, the Indonesian Meteorology and Seismology Agency said.

Electricity was knocked out and people fled their homes in the dark, fearing a tsunami, said Hasim Rumatiga, a local health official.

In the town of Sorong, near the epicenter, a resident told El Shinta radio that buildings and houses had been slightly damaged.

Indonesia straddles a chain of faults and volcanoes known as the Pacific “ring of fire” and therefore is highly prone to seismic activity. A huge quake off western Indonesia caused the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed more than 220,000 people, more than half of them on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.