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1 killed in Indonesia's quake, tsunami alert lifted

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-17 11:34

JAKARTA -- One people was killed and 23 others were wounded following the 7.5 magnitude quake that rocked eastern part of Indonesia early Monday, health ministry said here.

The quake also damaged several houses and a school building in Gorongtalo province, head of crisis center of the ministry Rustam Pakaya told Xinhua.

A shallow quake jolted after midnight with epicenter at 138 kilometers northwest of the province and 10 kilometers in depth, an official of meteorology agency said.

Then the quake was followed by two strong after shocks of 6.0 and 5.7 magnitudes, said the official.

The agency issued a warning of tsunami but then lifted it.

Indonesia has just launched high-tech faster tsunami warning system cost over US$130 million to prevent a repeat of massive death as it was on December 2004, when tsunami killed over 170,000 people killed in Aceh, Indonesia.

The catastrophe also killed those on coastal areas of Asia, from Sri Lanka and India to Thailand, the Maldives, bringing the total death toll to about 230,000 people.