Indonesia Tremors: Java Island on 5.6 Magnitude

A 5.6 magnitude earthquake shook Indonesia’s main island Java on Monday, killing at least 46 people and injuring 700, local officials said.

According to United Stated Geological Survey, the quake was centred in the Cianjur region of West Java, and was felt as far away as the capital of Jakarta, where panicked residents ran into the streets.

Dozens of buildings were damaged, including an Islamic boarding school, a hospital and other public facilities, National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.

Information was still being collected about the extent of casualties and damage, it said in a statement. The quake was felt strongly in the greater Jakarta area. High rises in the capital swayed and some were evacuated.

“The quake felt so strong. My colleagues and I decided to get out of our office on the ninth floor using the emergency stairs,” said Vidi Primadhania, an employee in South Jakarta. Earthquakes occur frequently across the sprawling archipelago nation, but it is uncommon for them to be felt in Jakarta.

“The information I got for now, in this hospital alone, nearly 20 died and at least 300 people are being treated,” Herman Suherman told broadcaster Metro TV.

“There are many families in villages that have not been evacuated. We are currently handling people who are in an emergency state in this hospital. The ambulances keep on coming from the villages to the hospital,” he said”.

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.

The country of more than 270 million people is frequently struck by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis because of its location on the Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.