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.
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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