5 killed in new Indonesia quakes
Jakarta, Aug 20 : At least five people were killed and 40 others injured as two quakes measuring 6.5 and 6.9 on the Richter scale jolted Indonesia's Lombok Island where several previous tremors have already claimed over 400 lives since July, an official said on Monday.
The jolts on Sunday morning and night amplified damages resulted from the 6.4 and 7.0 magnitude quakes hitting the island earlier on July 27 and August 5, head of emergency unit of disaster management agency Agung Pramudja said.
The latest figure put the total death toll from the quakes since July 27 to at least 465. The official said that a preliminary report indicated that at least 200 houses were seriously destroyed by the temblor.
"The shakes incited significant damages and many residents have fled home and taken shelters in makeshift encampment," he told Xinhua.
The official said that the assessment of the further risks of the jolts is being undertaken. No tsunami alert was issued.
The first quake struck the island at 11.10 a.m. with epicentre at 32 km East Lombok of West Nusa Tenggara province in western parts of the island and a depth of 10 km, the agency said.
The second one took place at 9.56 p.m. with an epicentre at 30 km northeast East Lombok district of West Nusa Tenggara province and a depth of 10 km, it said.
Indonesia is prone to quake as it lies on a vulnerable quake-hit zone of "the Pacific Ring of Fire".
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Catholic Bishops' body slams Bhagwat's remarks
New Delhi: The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India on Thursday slammed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for his reported remark that Pranab Mukherjee, when he was President, had said tribals would turn "anti-national" if there is no "ghar wapsi"Catholic Bishops.'
In a statement issued here, CBCI, a body of Catholic Bishops, referred to reports which said Bhagwat, at an event on Monday, claimed that Mukherjee, while he was President had appreciated ghar wapsi and told him that had it not been for the Sangh's work on reconversion, a section of Adivasis would have turned "anti-national".The CBCI called the report "shocking".
"Fabricated personal conversation being attributed to a former president of India and its posthumous publication with the vested interest of an organization with questionable credibility raises a grave issue of national importance," the CBCI claimed.
"Is it not the violent ghar wapsi program of VHP and other similar organizations, curtailing the exercise of freedom of conscience of economically deprived tribals, the real anti-national activity?" it asked.
'Ghar wapsi' is a term used by the RSS and affiliated organisations to refer to reconversion of Muslims and Christians to Hinduism, based on the belief that they were originally Hindus before converting to other religions.
The CBCI also questioned why Bhagwat did not speak about it while Mukherjee was alive.
"We, the 2.3 percent of Indian citizens who are Christians feel extremely hurt by such manipulated and motivated propaganda unleashed," it said.
In a post on X following the statement issued by CBCI, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien said, "Speak up. This is a start!"
"Bishops body have issued a statement condemning remarks made by Dr Mohan Bhagwat and RSS for defaming the Christian community," he said.
O'Brien added that they should ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi more questions, including why Christmas Day has been turned into "Good Governance Day".
The TMC leader, in a blogpost earlier this month, had said "hard questions" must be asked to the government with regards to the Christian community, including why the FCRA has been 'weaponised', and why has Manipur been 'ignored'.
