A shallow 5.6-magnitude earthquake damaged buildings and produced landslides on Indonesia’s main island of Java on Monday, killing at least 46 people and injuring hundreds, officials said.
According to the US Geological Survey, the afternoon quake was centered in the Cianjur region of West Java and was felt as far away as Jakarta, where scared citizens fled into the streets. He previously stated that the majority of deaths were recorded in a single hospital, with the majority of victims died in the wreckage of collapsed buildings.
He claimed that the town’s Sayang hospital lost power following the earthquake, preventing doctors from operating on casualties. According to a video obtained by AFP, locals brought patients to the hospital on pickup trucks and motorbikes. Residents spread a tarpaulin over the road in front of the facility to cover the dead.
Suherman stated that the power was still down. And authorities needed extra health personnel owing to a large number of patients. Thousands of dwellings could have been damaged in the earthquake, according to Adam, an administration spokeswoman who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name.
According to Indonesian media, the town’s shops, hospitals, and Islamic boarding schools were seriously damaged. Several buildings in Cianjur were shown on television with their roofs collapsed and rubble lining the streets. Victims’ relatives flocked to the hospital. Suherman cautioned that the death toll could grow since inhabitants on the outskirts of town could still be trapped.
Suharyanto, Indonesia’s disaster chief, claimed at least 14 people had been killed in the Cianjur district, but that information was “still emerging.” According to Cianjur police commander Doni Hermawan, authorities rescued a mother and a baby from a landslide. But a third person they discovered died as a result of their injuries.
Further Quakes
The Indonesian meteorological service cautioned inhabitants in the quake’s path to be on the lookout for further earthquakes. The USGS had previously estimated the magnitude of the quake to be 5.4. In Jakarta, there were no reports of casualties or significant damage.
Mayadita Waluyo, a 22-year-old lawyer from Jakarta, recalled how scared workers fled to the building’s exits as the earthquake struck. Hundreds of people were waiting outside after earthquake. Some wear hard hats to shield themselves from falling debris, according to an AFP reporter.
Because of its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where tectonic plates intersect, Indonesia is subjected to regular seismic and volcanic activity. More than 100 people were killed and thousands were displaced by a 6.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Sulawesi island in January 2021.
Indonesia is located between Indian and Pacific oceans in the Southeast Asia and Oceania. It is made up of about 17,000 islands. It includes Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi, as well as sections of Borneo and New Guinea. With 1,904,569 square kilometers, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelagic state and the 14th-largest country by area.
Indonesia is the world’s fourth-most populated country and the most populous Muslim-majority country, with approximately 275 million inhabitants. More than half of the country’s population resides on Java, the world’s most populous island.
Also Read : First death due to Covid-19 in China in last six months
141 total views, 2 views today