国际英语新闻:4 people killed, 200 houses damaged in Indonesia strong quake

JAKARTA, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Head of Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Doni Monardo said on Saturday that Friday's strong earthquake had killed 4 people and damaged around 200 houses in the country's affected areas.

The 6.9-magnitude quake hit at 7:03 p.m. local time (1203 GMT), with the epicenter at 7.54 degrees south latitude and 104.58 degrees east longitude at a depth of 10 km. The epicenter was located 147 km southwest of Sumur District in Banten province's Pandeglang regency.

"We will continue to monitor the damages caused by the earthquake on the hourly basis. At least 200 houses were damaged and four people killed so far in the quake," Doni was quoted as saying by local media while visiting the affected areas.

He said that those residents evacuated to shelters are returning homes.

Indonesian authorities have scaled down Friday's quake to 6.9 magnitude from initial 7.4 magnitude.