JAKARTA, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Over 130 people were injured and more than 50,000 people fled home after Sunday's 7.2-magnitude quake in Indonesia's eastern province of North Maluku, a disaster agency official said on Thursday.
The evacuation and the wounded residents were found in Halmahera Selatan district of the province, spokesman of the National Disaster Management Authority Agus Wibowo said.
"The number of evacuees has risen significantly, around 54,000 people have been taking shelters after the quake. As many as 131 others suffer from injuries," he told Xinhua via phone.
The spokesman said a total of 34 people sustained from serious wounds and 97 others got minor injuries.
The jump of the figures came as the personnel of disaster agency were able to reach most of the quake-impacted areas and collect data, he said.
A day earlier, the agency reported that the number of internally displaced-persons was nearly 3,000.
The tremors destroyed nearly 1,000 houses in the district, Agus said.
The spokesman revealed that the evacuees were taking shelters in 15 evacuation centers with facilities including government office building, mosques, and makeshift tents.
To comply with the needs of the evacuees, he said a command-post was established in Labuha town and another post in Saketa village, both of them serve logistics, medical assistance and other dire needs in the emergency relief efforts in the district.
The 7.2-magnitude quake struck off North Maluku province with epicenter at 62 km Northeast of Labuha town and a depth of 10 km, according to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency.
Indonesia has been frequently hit by quakes as it lies on a vulnerable quake-impacted zone so-called "the Pacific Ring of Fire."
