At least 44 people were killed and at least 300 others injured in an earthquake that struck the main Indonesian island of Java, a local official was quoted as saying by AFP as saying The US Geological Survey said the magnitude 5.6 quake was centered in the Cianjur region of West Java province at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).
“The information I have for now, only in this hospital, about 20 people have died and at least 300 people are being treated,” the official said.
Dozens of buildings were damaged, including an Islamic boarding school, a hospital and other public facilities, the agency said.
Information on the extent of casualties and damage was still being collected, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said in a statement.
The quake was strongly felt in the Jakarta metropolitan area. The tall buildings of the capital tottered and some were evacuated.
People injured during an earthquake receive medical care at a hospital parking lot in Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia, Monday, Nov. 21, 2022. (Globe Live Media Photo/Firman Taqur)
“The earthquake felt so strong. My colleagues and I decided to leave our office on the ninth floor using the emergency stairs,” said Vidi Primadhania, an employee in South Jakarta.
Earthquakes occur frequently in the sprawling archipelago nation, but it’s rare for them to be felt in Jakarta.
So far, the BNPB’s Operations Control Center (Pusdalops) has received some information from several regions. The Cianjur Regency Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) reported that apart from the death toll, four residents were injured. pic.twitter.com/SlocAk7cco
— BNPB Indonesia (@BNPB_Indonesia) November 21, 2022
The country of more than 270 million people is frequently hit by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis due to its location on the “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific basin.
In February, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed at least 25 people and injured more than 460 in West Sumatra province. In January 2021, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed more than 100 people and injured nearly 6,500 in West Sulawesi province.
An earthquake rocked Indonesia’s main island of Java on Monday, damaging dozens of buildings and sending residents onto the streets of the capital seeking safety. (Globe Live Media Photo/Firman Taqur)
A powerful earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004 killed nearly 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia.