PMI sends personnel, ambulances to Mentawai

Antara News, Tuesday, October 26, 2010 16:50 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) has mobilized tens of personnel and sent four ambulances to Mentawai for early assessment following a powerful earthquake which hit the area on Monday evening (Oct 25).

"PMI West Sumatra office has sent four ambulances and tens of personnel. For the moment, we are still waiting for complete report from the local PMI office on the situation in Mentawai," Achmad Djaelani of the Jakarta-based PMI Headquarters, said in a statement here Tuesday.

An earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale rocked Mentawai islands at 21.42 last Monday with its epicenter located 78 km west of Pagai Selatan subdistrict, Mentawai district, at a depth of 10 km below sea level.

Aftershocks continued to happen in Mentawai, West Sumatra, following the magnitude-7.2 quake . A quake measuring 5.5 on the Richter Scale followed at 10 pm at a depth of 22 kilometers, 89 kilometers southwest of Pagai Selatan.

Another quake was also recorded at 5.0 on the Richter Scale at 10.31 pm at a depth of 34 kilometers, 51 kilometers southwest of Pagai Selatan.

Meanwhile, a two-meter high tsunami struck Mentawai island following a 7.2 earthquake last Monday (Oct 25) at 21.42.

"The information about an impending tsunami was obtained from Australian volunteers who are stationed there. According to their report, they found some fishermen`s boat stranded in land," an expert of the Padang-based University of Andalas, Dr Badrul Mustapa Kemal, said here on Tuesday.

The quake was also felt by people in Padang, Kerinci, Jambi, and even up to Singapore.

On September 30, 2009, a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale devastated Padang city, the provincial capital of West Sumatra, killing at least 1,117 people.