At least 162 people were killed and hundreds more were injured in a 5.6-magnitude earthquake on Monday in Java, Indonesia’s main island.
The epicenter of the earthquake was located near Cianjur, about 110 km southeast of Jakarta, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
“I am sorry to report that 162 died,” West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said in a video seen by AFP.
However, the Indonesian disaster management agency still reported 62 deaths (after having revised upwards the previous balance of 56 deaths). According to this instance, more than two thousand houses were damaged and more than five thousand inhabitants were evacuated.
Governor Ridwan Kamil had claimed that electricity had been partially restored overnight, but without specifying whether this was thanks to generations or because the power grid was working.
For now, the authorities reported at least 700 wounded but warned that the balance could be much higher.
Agus Azhari, 19, was with his mother in the family home when the living room was destroyed in a matter of seconds. The walls partially collapsed and the roof collapsed around them.
Not enough staff to deal with the earthquake in Indonesia
Herman Suherman, head of the Cianjur city administration, told Metro TV that there was a steady stream of casualties.
“There are many families in the villages that could not be evacuated,” he said.
According to Suherman, the Sayang Hospital in Cianjur had not had access to electricity since the quake and doctors were unable to operate on the victims. “More health personnel are needed to care for the large number of those affected,” he added.
Shops, a hospital and an Islamic boarding school in Cianjur suffered significant damage, according to local press. In the media you could see several buildings in the town with the roof collapsed.
Indonesia often registers earthquakes because it is located in the “ring of fire” of the Pacific, the meeting point of the tectonic plates.
In 2018, on the island of Lombok and the neighboring island of Sumbawa, a violent earthquake caused more than 550 deaths.
That same year, another earthquake, magnitude 7.5, caused a tsunami that hit Palu, on the island of Sulawesi, causing the death or disappearance of 4,300 people.
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