At least 162 people died and hundreds more were injured in a 5.6 magnitude earthquake on the Indonesian island of Java on Monday, shaking skyscrapers as far away as the capital Jakarta.
The epicenter was near the town of Cianjur, which is some 100 kilometers south of Jakarta, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Media showed several buildings with collapsed roofs.
The latest report announced by the governor of West Java Ridwan Kamil reports the death of 162 people. Several hundred people were also injured.
Jakarta people on the street
“We urge people to stay outside buildings for the time being, as there could be possible aftershocks,” said the director of the Indonesian meteorological agency.
No casualties or significant damage were reported immediately in Jakarta. But many rushed out of the buildings. Hundreds of people waited outside after the quake, some wearing hard hats to protect themselves from falling debris.
A country located on the “Ring of Fire”
Indonesia is regularly confronted with earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, due to its position on the Pacific “ring of fire” where the tectonic plates meet.
In 2018, the island of Lombok and the neighboring island of Sumbawa were hit by a violent earthquake which killed more than 550 people. The same year, another earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 caused a tsunami hitting Palu, on the island of Sulawesi, resulting in the death or disappearance of 4,300 people.
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The island of Java had for its part been hit by an earthquake of magnitude 6.3 in 2006, near the city of Yogyakarta (center), causing around 6,000 deaths and tens of thousands of injuries.
But the country remains marked by the earthquake of December 26, 2004 with a magnitude of 9.1 off the coast of Sumatra. It caused a major tsunami that killed 220,000 people across the region, including 170,000 in Indonesia alone.
>> Lire: Fifteen years after the deadly tsunami in Southwest Asia
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