Earthquake kills dozens in Indonesia — RT World News
The country’s main island, Java, was hit by tremors of magnitude 5.6, according to the USGS
Dozens of people were killed and hundreds injured when Indonesia’s main island, Java, was rocked by an earthquake on Monday.
The earthquake had a magnitude of 5.6, with its epicenter located in the Cianjur region in the west of the island, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The tremors caused widespread havoc in the area, with the spokesman for the local administration of Cianjur town telling AFP that “There were dozens of people killed.”
“Hundreds, if not thousands of houses are damaged. So far, 44 people have died,” added the official.
Earlier, Cianjur administration chief Herman Suherman told Metro TV several dozen dead and at least 300 injured, most of them hospitalized with “fractures from being trapped by the ruins of buildings.”
The city and district of Cianjur, with an estimated population of nearly 175,000, is located about 120 kilometers southeast of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
The tremor from the quake was also felt in Jakarta, with people rushing outside buildings. However, no death or destruction in the capital has been reported so far.
The country’s weather agency has warned residents that “there could be potential aftershocks” and called on households to refrain from returning to their homes for now.
Situated along the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire” – where multiple tectonic plates meet, driving the majority of the world’s volcanoes and earthquakes – Indonesia is no stranger to deadly earthquakes.
A 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit the island of Sulawesi in January last year, killing more than 100 people and destroying thousands of homes.
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