One dead as 6.2 earthquake rocks Indonesia’s Nias island

An 11-year-old boy was killed after the ceiling of a newly-built military dormitory collapsed during the quake, First Sergeant Muri of the North Nias district police said.

“There was only one death and there were no substantial damage to the buildings and structures in town,” Muri said in the district capital of Gunung Sitoli.

The boy died of head injuries en route to hospital, said Rustam Pakaya from the health ministry’s crisis centre in Jakarta.

The epicentre of the quake was located 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) below the surface some 24 kilometres southwest of Gunung Sitoli, the Indonesian meteorology and geophysics office said.

The quake struck at 12:14 a.m. (1714 GMT Tuesday), the U.S. Geological Survey said. The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre did not immediately issue an alert following the quake. Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where continental plates meet, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

Nias island was hit by a devastating 8.7-magnitude earthquake in 2005 that killed some 850 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

Indonesia was hardest hit by the earthquake-triggered Asian tsunami in December 2004. Some 168,000 people alone were killed in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra.

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