Four killed in strong Indonesian quakes

MANOKWARI, Indonesia, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Four people died in a series of very strong earthquakes measuring between 7.2 and 7.6 on the Richter scale hit West Papua, Indonesia, officials said Sunday.

Indonesian officials said the 2:43 a.m. tremors flattened a hotel and destroyed the governor's office in Manokwari, West Papua and generated 25 aftershocks of between magnitudes 5.0 and 5.8, the Malaysian news agency Bernama reported.

The quakes' epicenters were on land, about 80 miles from Manokwari, the Indonesian Meteorological and Geophysics Agency said. The Manokwari District army commander told Bernama that in addition to the four dead, seven people were seriously injured, including five people rescued from the ruins of the Mutiara Hotel.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said much public infrastructure, including the Manokwari airport and runway, were destroyed, indicating he had dispatched three government ministers to Manokwari to oversee search and rescue operations.

Sunday's quakes were big enough to cause a tsunami. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said no large waves had been detected, CNN reported.