A tectonic earthquake measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale jolted Indonesia's Papua provincial capital of Jayapura and Sarmi Wednesday evening, causing one dead and hundreds of people to flee to upland areas, the Antara news agency reported Thursday evening.

Syamsul, a rubbish truck driver in Sarmi regency, died of heart attack during the tremor, which took place at 7:11 p.m. (12:11 GMT), and over 200 peoples in Mararena village, Sarmi, rushed to seek considered safer places in fear of tsunami. But they returned to their home Thursday morning.

Peoples living in lowland areas in Mararena fled in panic as the quake shook the regency because their areas are vulnerable to high tide following a quake, Antara said.

All areas in Papua province, except Merauke regency, are vulnerable to earthquakes and storms, head of Jayapura Office of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) Erasmus Kayadu said Thursday.

The Jayapura Office of the BMG has installed tsunami early warning devices and earthquake monitoring instruments in six locations, Merauke, Jayapura, Sentani, Dosay, Sorong and Ambon.

Source: China Daily