Killed 46 people... Terrifying earthquake shook Indonesia

Killed 46 people... Terrifying earthquake shook Indonesia
earthquake

A terrifying earthquake rocked Indonesia, causing many losses of lives and buildings and leaving many people homeless.

The US Geological Survey said magnitude 5.6 quake was centred in Cianjur region in West Java province at depth of 10 km.

An earthquake has shaken Indonesia’s main island of Java, killing at least 46 and people 700 injured people, damaging dozens of buildings and sending residents into the capital’s streets for safety.

The US Geological Survey  (USGS) said the magnitude 5.6 quake was centred in the Cianjur region in West Java province at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles).

“There are 46 dead people at the Cianjur regional hospital and around 700 injured people. Many were hurt because they were hit by collapsed buildings,” the national disaster mitigation agency chief said.

buildings damaged

Several landslides were reported around Cianjur  Dozens of buildings were damaged, including an Islamic boarding school, a hospital and other public facilities, the 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.

emergency stairs

Vidi Primadhania, an employee in South Jakarta said: “The quake felt so strong, My colleagues and I decided to get out of our office on the ninth floor using the emergency stairs,”.

The country of more than 270 million people is struck frequently 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 quake killed more than 100 people and injured nearly 6,500 in West Sulawesi province.

A powerful Indian Ocean quake and tsunami in 2004 killed nearly 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia.