A seaside restaurant was destroyed by an earthquake that slammed Papua, the capital of Indonesia’s breakaway eastern region, on Thursday, officials said. At least four people were killed.
The 22-kilometer-deep 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck on land southwest of Jayapura city at 1:28 pm (06:28 GMT), according to the US Geological Survey.
“A cafe collapsed and four people died there. It fell into the sea,” Asep Khalid, head of the Jayapura disaster mitigation agency, said in a press release.
Residents of Jayapura reported that when the earthquake hit, people scurried for safety and fled from their homes and businesses.
Putri Kurita, 30, sprinted out of another restaurant because she thought it may fall.
“I was having lunch when things suddenly swayed, the jolt got much stronger,” she told AFP.
The nation’s meteorological service reported a stronger magnitude of 5.2 and issued an aftershock warning.
Indonesia’s location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where tectonic plates meet, causes regular seismic and volcanic activity.
Insurgents fighting for independence from Indonesia have been waging a long-running insurgency in the area that was hit by the earthquake on Thursday.
