Strong, shallow earthquake hits eastern Indonesia
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A strong, shallow earthquake hit eastern Indonesia early Monday, sending residents, hotels guests and patients from a hospital fleeing in panic. Some homes were damaged, with windows shattered and walls cracked, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.2 quake struck the southeastern tip of Sulawesi island.
It was centered 45 miles (75 kilometers) from the town of Kendari, just 6 miles (9 kilometers) beneath the earth's crust. The shallower a quake is, the more damage it can cause.
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Three strong aftershocks followed.
"Women and children were screaming as they ran from their homes and into nearby fields," said Lt. Laode Surachman, a police officer in Kendari, adding that hotels emptied out and patients in a hospital were evacuated to safety. "Even officers taking part in morning roll call scattered and fled."
Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that make the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.
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A giant quake off the country on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, half of them in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.
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Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta contributed to this report.