Twenty-two people died in an earthquake that struck Indonesia's Papua province damaging a hospital, airstrip and several homes in a northwestern town, the state news agency Antara said, quoting police.  

"Papua deputy police chief Tony Yakobus said he had received reports that 22 people are dead, including a police officer," Antara said.

Fauzi, coordinator of the National Earthquake Centre, said earlier the quake measuring 6.9 on the Richter Scale killed eight and injured "hundreds."

The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency which runs the centre said the hospital in the town of Nabire was badly damaged and patients were transferred to a tent.

The quake, lasting between 10 and 30 seconds, also felled trees and damaged several houses and at least one bridge, the agency said in a statement.

Walls and roads cracked in the quake which was also felt in Manokwari, 120 kilometers northwest of Nabire. It struck at 6:05 am (2105 GMT Thursday) about seven kilometers (four miles) from Nabire.

Fauzi said the airstrip was cracked and it was not clear if planes could land.

"Our officials and those from the health department are ready to go but are waiting to find out whether that airfield can be used," he said in a radio interview.

"So far there have been nine relatively strong aftershocks that were felt in Nabire."

Officials in Nabire could not be reached by telephone but one local resident said it struck while his family of eight slept.

Daud Sihombing, police spokesman in Indonesia's easternmost province, said he had not yet received a report on the latest quake. "The frequency of earthquakes has been increasing in Papua lately," he said.

An official in the provincial deputy governor's office in Jayapura also said his office had not yet received information from Nabire.

France's earth sciences observatory in Strasbourg said it was the largest quake measured in the region since 2000.

The Indonesian archipelago is one of the world's most earthquake-prone regions. It sits on the "Pacific Rim of Fire" noted for its volcanic and seismic activity.

A quake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale shook parts of the Maluku islands in eastern Indonesia on January 29 but there were no reports of major damage or casualties.

On January 2 parts of the holiday islands of Bali and Lombok were hit by a quake measuring 6.1, which damaged more than 6,000 buildings and caused financial losses of US$12 million.

(China Daily February 6, 2004)