A powerful earthquake killed one resident, injured tens of others, and damaged at least 1,500 houses and other buildings in Buol District, Central Sulawesi, early Monday, ANTARA reported. Around 400 of the houses were leveled to the ground, according to Central Sulawesi Governor Bandjela Paliudju said here on Monday. The damaged houses were located in five sub districts in Buol District, namely Bokat, Bunobogu, Paleleh, Lipunoto and Gadung. Governor Paliudju said the injured people had been rushed to nearby hospitals. He had instructed the Buol Social Service office to deliver relief aid to earthquake victims immediately. "Open all relief aid warehouses and distribute the goods to the victims," he said. The earthquake caused a power cut off in Buol District and destroyed a 400-meter-long bridge connecting Gadung and Paleleh sub districts. A 200-meter long hanging bridge in Lipunoto sub district was also seriously damaged in the disaster. The national meteorological and geophysics office reported the temblor registered 7.7 on the Richter scale. Its epicenter was located 1.41 degrees northern latitude and 122.18 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 10 km below sea level, around 138 km northwest of Gorontalo, and 48 km north of Paleleh, Buol District, which shares a border with Gorontalo Province. Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," the edge of a tectonic plate prone to seismic upheaval.
