The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Jakarta

A series of powerful earthquakes at dawn Sunday killed at least four people and injured dozens more in remote eastern Indonesia, cutting power lines and destroying buildings.

One of the quakes - a 7.3-magnitude tremor - was felt as far away as Australia and sent small tsunamis into Japan's southeastern coast, but there were no reports of damage there and no tsunami in Indonesia's impoverished Papua area.

The first 7.6-magnitude quake struck at 4:43 a.m. local time (1943 GMT) on land about 85 miles (135 kilometers) from Manokwari, Papua, at a depth of 22 miles (35 kilometers), the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was followed by dozens of aftershocks.

At least four people died in Papua, and the airport runway nearest the epicenter was cracked, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters. Commercial flights to the area were canceled.

"I've instructed emergency steps be taken to help our brothers and to restore power and other vital utilities," he said without commenting on how widespread the damage might be.

Among the dead was a 10-year-old girl whose head was crushed, said local hospital director Hengky Tewu.

"We have our ambulances picking up two more," he said. Another 19 patients at the hospital were treated for broken bones, cuts, crushed fingers and other injuries.

Papua police chief Maj. Gen. Bagus Ekodanto said he received reports that a hotel and rice warehouse had been "destroyed," but he did not know if anyone had died. A search for possible victims was under way.

Several stories of the Mutiara Hotel in the main city Manokwari collapsed, said Ina, a nurse at a navy hospital treating 20 quake patients. Like many Indonesians she goes by a single name.