Friday, October 23, 2009 JAKARTA: A strong 6.0-magnitude quake struck Indonesia's Papua province on the island of New Guinea on Friday, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no reports of damage.The quake struck at 8:15 pm (1115 GMT), three kilometres (two miles) east of Manokwari at a depth of 35 kilometres, the Survey said.A senior official with Indonesia's Geophysics and Meteorological Agency played down the seriousness of the quake.Indonesia's measurements suggested, "people felt the shaking but it doesn't mean there's any damage," said the agency's technical chief, Suharjono."There are no reports of damage or casualties. Those living in Manokwari felt several seconds of shaking and there was some panic, especially at the hospital," he said.A news agency reporter in the city confirmed there were no signs of damage to buildings, although panicked residents had scrambled for high ground, fearing a tsunami, and electricity supplies were briefly cut.Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where the meeting of continental plates causes frequent high volcanic and seismic activity.A 7.6-magnitude quake that struck Sumatra Island on September 30 killed more than 1,000 people.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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