Earthquake slightly damages houses in southeastern Indonesia, but no casualties reported
Jakarta (AP): An earthquake slightly damaged houses and other buildings in southeastern Indonesia early Thursday, causing some panic but no apparent casualties.
The quake was strongly felt in several cities and villages and caused some to panic, said Daryono, who heads the Earthquake and Tsunami Center at Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency. It was based on land and had no risk of a tsunami.
"The quake has caused light damages in several buildings and houses," wrote Daryono, who goes by a single name, on the social media platform X.
Video circulating on social media showed residents in Kupang, the province's capital and largest city, reacting as houses and buildings swayed just after dawn. Some witnesses said ceilings at the governor's and mayor's offices were damaged.
The U.S. Geological Survey measured the strength at 6.1 magnitude and said the quake occurred 36 kilometers (22 miles) below the surface. The epicenter was 21 kilometers (13 miles) north-northeast of Kupang on the western side of Timor Island.
The Indonesian agency measured its strength at 6.3 magnitude. Variations in early measurements of quakes are common.
Indonesia is a seismically active archipelago of 270 million people where earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis frequently occur.
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake last year killed at least 602 people in West Java's Cianjur city. It was the deadliest in Indonesia since a 2018 quake and tsunami in Sulawesi killed more than 4,300 people.
In 2004, an extremely powerful Indian Ocean quake set off a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia's Aceh province.
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South African police arrest suspect in mass shooting that killed 12, including 3 children
Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.
The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.
An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.
“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.
The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.
Police have since launched a search for the suspects.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.
According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.
