Earthquake shakes Indonesia's Java island; at least 46 dead

At least 46 people were killed and 700 injured when an earthquake of magnitude 5.6 shook Indonesia’s main island of Java on Monday (November 21). Dozens of buildings were damaged too sending residents scuttling for safety.

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

At the Cianjur regional hospital, there are 46 people dead and around 700 injured. According to National Disaster Mitigation Agency chief Suharyanto, many people were hurt when the buildings collapsed.

Several landslides were reported around Cianjur. Dozens of buildings were damaged, including an Islamic boarding school, a hospital and other public facilities, said the agency, adding that information was still being collected about the extent of casualties and damage.

The quake was felt strongly in the greater Jakarta area. High rises in the capital swayed and some were evacuated.

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

Earthquakes occur frequently across the sprawling archipelago nation, but it is uncommon t in Jakarta. The country with a population of more than 270 million people is frequently struck 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.

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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 earthquake killed more than 100 people and injured nearly 6,500 in the West Sulawesi province.

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