The death toll from a 5.6-magnitude earthquake in Indonesia on Monday has risen to 162 with hundreds injured, West Java governor Ridwan Kamil was quoted by AFP News Agency as saying.
Local media Kompas.com and Detik.com reported quoting the Governor that over 13,000 have been displaced in the earthquake.
The latest data from Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency had shown 62 killed in the quake. The US Geological Survey said the magnitude 5.6 quake was centered in the Cianjur region in West Java province at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).
Dozens of buildings were damaged, including an Islamic boarding school, a hospital and other public facilities, the agency said. Herman Suherman, a government official in Cianjur, told media that some residents were trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings. News channel Metro TV showed what appeared to be hundreds of victims being treated in a hospital parking lot.
Information was still being collected about the extent of casualties and damage, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said in a statement.
The quake was felt strongly in the greater Jakarta area. High rises in the capital swayed and some were evacuated.
People injured during an earthquake receive medical treatment in a hospital parking lot in Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia, Monday, Nov. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Firman Taqur)
“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 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.
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 shook Indonesia's main island of Java on Monday damaging dozens of buildings and sending residents into the capital's streets for safety. (AP Photo/Firman Taqur)
A powerful Indian Ocean quake and tsunami in 2004 killed nearly 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia.
(With inputs from AFP, AP)
First Published: Nov 21, 2022 3:00 PM IST
