Jakarta – A magnitude 6.1 earthquake rocked Timor island on Thursday, damaging houses and government offices in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara.
The quake struck 23 kilometers from Kupang, on the west of the island, according to the United States Geological Survey. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said the quake had a higher magnitude of 6.6 at a depth of 10 meters.
The earthquake was felt in many parts of the island including the Rote, Waingapu, Alor and Lembata regencies.
"There are 40 houses damaged because of the earthquake on Thursday morning," said Kupang Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD Kupang) head Semi Tineti.
The agency also recorded 19 damaged government buildings of the Kupang regency administration. No casualties or injuries were found after the earthquake.
The second-floor ceiling of the Kupang regent's office was reportedly damaged. Other damaged facilities include the Kupang development planning board (Bappeda Kupang) office and the Kupang one-stop integrated services agency building. Fortunately, the damages did not disturb the activities and public services provided at those facilities.
Indonesia experiences frequent earthquakes because of its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
In November last year, a magnitude 5.6 quake hit the populous West Java province on the country's main island of Java, killing 602 people.