REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KUPANG -- A major earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 on the Richter scale rocked the district of Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. It triggered people to run out of buildings.

The quake hit at 15;08 local time on Tuesday afternoon with epicenter in the sea at a depth of 10 kilometers 124.16 degrees east longitude and 10.96 degrees south latitude or 111 kilometers southeast of the southern coast of the Kupang district. The quake caused great panic as only early this month a succession of devastating quakes hit Lombok in neighboring province of West Nusa Tenggara leaving more than 550 people dead.

"The jolt was strong that in panic we rushed out of working office for safety," spokeswoman of the Kupang district administration Martha Magdalena Para Ede said.

A coordination meeting of Kupang district leaders was taking place seeking to discuss communal conflict between East Timorese and local people in the border area when the quake hit, Martha said. The tremors lasted for several seconds only but everybody rushed out of the meeting room in the second floor of the administration building.

The meeting headed by deputy district head Korinus Masneno attended by district police chief Adj. Sr.Com Indera Gunawan was resumed later in the official house of the deputy regent. No report yet about any casualty or damage to property caused by the quake.

"No report yet received from lower district areas about the quake," Martha said.

Earlier, Vice President Jusuf Kalla led a coordination meeting on handling the impacts of the earthquake that hit Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), at the Jakarta Vice President's Office on Monday afternoon. The meeting began at 2 p.m. local time, with three coordinating ministers, three ministers, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the NTB Provincial Government.

Present at the meeting were Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan, Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Puan Maharani, Social Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, and Minister of Public Works and Public Housing Basuki Hadimuljono.

In addition, Head of BNPB Willem Rampangilei and NTB Governor Muhammad Zainul Majdi attended the meeting. Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law, and Security Wiranto and Interior Minister Tjahjo Kumolo were not present at the meeting.

Lombok has been hit by a succession of major quakes first being on July 29 with a magnitude of 6.4 on the Richter scale followed by a bigger quake 7 on the Richter scale on Aug 5 with last big quake 6.9 on the Richter scale on Aug 19.

The Central government and the provincial administration involving the military and police are still busy helping the process of reconstruction of the tourist island just across Bali, the country's main tourist destination. Many foreign tourists were in Lombok when the first major quake hit on July 30 but all of them were safely evacuated to Bali.

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