At least 46 people were killed and scores of structures were damaged when an earthquake struck Java, the largest island in Indonesia, on Monday. Residents fled into the streets of the city in search of protection.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the magnitude 5.6 earthquake had its epicenter at a depth of 10 kilometers in the Cianjur district of West Java province (6.2 miles).
The capital’s high rises trembled, and several residents were evacuated
“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,” National Disaster Mitigation Agency chief Suharyanto said.
Around Cianjur, there were a number of landslides reported. The organization reported that dozens of structures, including an Islamic boarding school, a hospital, and other public services, were damaged.
According to a statement, more data was being gathered on the severity of the casualties and damage. The greater Jakarta area felt the tremor very strongly. The capital’s high rises trembled, and several residents were evacuated.
“The tremor felt so powerful. My coworkers and I made the decision to leave our ninth-floor office using the emergency stairs, according to Vidi Primadhania, a worker in South Jakarta. The vast archipelago nation experiences earthquakes frequently, but they are rarely noticed in Jakarta.
The ‘Ring of Fire’ frequently experiences earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis
The “Ring of Fire,” a ring of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin, is where the nation of more than 270 million people is situated, and as a result, it frequently experiences earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis.
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck West Sumatra province in February resulted in at least 25 fatalities and over 460 injuries. A magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck West Sulawesi province in January 2021 resulted in more than 100 fatalities and nearly 6,500 injuries.
In 2004, a devastating earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean killed nearly 230,000 people in a dozen nations, the majority of them in Indonesia.