42 killed, hundreds injured in Indonesia earthquake

SANAA, Jan. 16 (YPA) – An official and two senior rescuers announced that the death toll from the 6.2-magnitude earthquake that struck West Sulawesi province on Friday has risen to 42, and hundreds of injured.
Pagus Puruhito, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, said that more than 10,000 people were forced to evacuate after the earthquake destroyed many homes, office buildings, hotels, hospitals and shopping centers in Mamuju and Mageni district.
“Xinhua” agency quoted a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, Raditiya Jati, as saying that 34 people were killed in Mamuju and eight others in Mageni.
Jati added that the earthquake also destroyed a sea port and a bridge in the province, noting that 300 homes were destroyed in Mageny.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo mandated the head of the disaster management agency, the police chief and the army chief, to take immediate steps to search for the victims and treat the injured.