Magnitude 6 earthquake strikes in eastern Indonesia, killing 6

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A strong earthquake rocked parts of eastern Indonesia early today, killing six people, injuring 40 and damaging hundreds of buildings, seismologists and officials said.

The magnitude 6 quake struck at 5:26 a.m. and was centered 20 miles off the eastern coast of Alor island, about 1,000 miles east of the capital, Jakarta, said seismologist Rahmat Triono in Jakarta.

Six residents were killed and 40 were injured in Alor, Fransiscus Salem, a local government official, said on Radio El-Shinta.

“We are still feeling many small tremors here,” Salem said. “We hope the quake has peaked. But we are afraid of big aftershocks, which can cause more deaths.”

One person died when his shop roof collapsed, witnesses said. Twenty others were hospitalized and hundreds of homes, shops and offices were damaged on the island’s main town of Kalabahi, they said.