JAKARTA – An earthquake on the main Indonesian island of Java on Monday has killed scores of people and injured hundreds, say officials.
The 5.6 magnitude quake struck Cianjur town in West Java, at a shallow depth of 10 km, according to US Geological Survey data.
Scores of people were taken to hospital, with many treated outside.
Rescuers have worked through the night to try to save others thought to still be trapped under collapsed buildings.
The area where the quake struck is densely populated and prone to landslides, with poorly built houses reduced to rubble in many areas.
The exact number of people killed so far remains unclear. Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has said their official death toll was 103, adding that another figure given by regional governor Ridwan Kamil – 162 – remains unverified.
BNPB said another 390 people were wounded and that 7,000 people had taken shelter in various locations in the area.
Kamil has claimed that a total of 13,000 had been displaced by the disaster, and that more remained “trapped in isolated places”. He said officials were “under the assumption that the number of injured and deaths will rise with time”.
Many of the injured were treated outside in a hospital car park after the hospital was left without power for several hours following the quake, West Java’s governor said.
The tremor could also be felt in the capital Jakarta about 100 km away, where people were evacuated from high-rise buildings.
Office workers rushed out of buildings in the civic and business district during the tremor, which started at 13:21 Western Indonesian time (WIT) on Monday, the agency said. (BBC)
