Indonesia quake kills over 160

CIANJUR (Agencies): A powerful earthquake killed more than 160 people in Indonesia’s West Java province on Monday, with rescuers searching for survivors trapped under the rubble amid a series of aftershocks. The epicentre of the 5.6 magnitude quake was near the town of Cianjur in mountainous West Java, about 75 km (45 miles) southeast of the capital, Jakarta. The region is home to over 2.5 million people.
West Java governor Ridwan Kamil said on Instagram that 162 people had been killed and 326 were injured. Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) still placed the death toll at 62 and rescuers were searching for 25 believed to be trapped under rubble and its spokesperson said the search would continue through the night. Ridwan told reporters that given many buildings have collapsed, the death toll could rise. “There are residents trapped in isolated places … so we are under the assumption that the number of injured and deaths will rise with time.”
Indonesia straddles the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a highly seismically active zone, where different plates on the Earth’s crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes. The BNPB said more than 2,200 houses had been damaged and more than 5,300 people had been displaced. Ridwan put that number at 13,000 and said they would be spread out at various evacuation centres across Cianjur. Electricity was down, disrupting communications, authorities said, while landslides were blocking evacuations in some areas.
Hundreds of victims were being treated in a hospital parking lot, some under an emergency tent. Elsewhere in Cianjur, residents huddled together on mats in open fields or in tents while buildings around them had been reduced to rubble. Ambulance were still arriving at the hospital late into the night, bringing more people to the hospital.
Officials were still working to determine the full extent of the damage caused by the quake, which struck at a relatively shallow depth of 10 km, according to the weather and geophysics agency (BMKG). Vani, who was being treated at Cianjur main hospital, told MetroTV that the walls of her house collapsed during an aftershock. “The walls and wardrobe just fell … Everything was flattened, I don’t even know the whereabouts of my mother and father,” she said. Ridwan said 88 aftershocks were recorded while weather agency BMKG warned of more landslides in the event of heavy rain.
Cucu, 48, was searching for one of her seven children. “The children were downstairs and I was upstairs getting laundry. Everything collapse beneath me… One of my kids is still missing,” she said. In Jakarta, some people left offices in the central business district, while others reported buildings shaking and furniture moving, Reuters witnesses said.
In 2004, a 9.1 magnitude quake off Sumatra island in northern Indonesia triggered a tsunami that struck 14 countries, killing 226,000 people along the Indian Ocean coastline, more than half of them in Indonesia. Indonesian President Joko Widodo is yet to respond to the quake.
Indonesia’s meteorological agency said it recorded 62 aftershocks in Cianjur after the quake, with magnitudes ranging from 1.8 to 4. There were no reports of casualties or major damage in Jakarta, a three-hour drive away. Mayadita Waluyo, a 22-year-old lawyer, described how panicked workers ran to building exits in Jakarta as the quake struck. “I was working when the floor under me was shaking. I could feel the tremor clearly. I tried to do nothing to process what it was but it became even stronger and lasted for some time,” she said. “I feel a bit dizzy now and my legs are also a bit cramped because I had to walk downstairs from the 14th floor,” she added.
Hundreds of people were waiting outdoors after the quake, including some wearing hard hats to protect themselves from falling debris, an AFP reporter there said. Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide. A 6.2-magnitude quake that shook Sulawesi island in January 2021 killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless.
PM, FM condole loss of precious lives in Indonesia earthquake: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Monday expressed his condolences with Indonesian President Joko Widodo over the loss of lives caused by an earthquake in the country’s Java region.
“Saddened by the tragic loss of precious lives in an earthquake that struck Java region of Indonesia,” the prime minister said in a tweet posted on his social media account. “We, in Pakistan, offer our heartfelt condolences and most sincere sympathies to H.E. President Joko Widodo, the bereaved families and the brotherly people of Indonesia,” he added.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has also expressed his grief and condolences over the loss of lives caused by the earthquake in Indonesia. “Tragic news of the earthquake and resultant loss of precious lives in Indonesia. Our heartfelt condolences and prayers for our Indonesian brothers and sisters, especially families of the victims,” the foreign minister said in a twitter post.