5.6 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia leaves at least 55 dead and more than 700 injured

At least 55 people were killed and 700 others injured in a 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck Monday on the main island of IndonesiaJava, a jolt that shook the skyscrapers of the capital, Jakarta.

As confirmed to EFE by the spokesman for the government of cianjurthe town in West Java where the epicenter of the earthquake occurred, four people died at the Cimacan hospital and 51 at the Sayang hospital in that town.

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However, the National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB, in Indonesian), confirms, for now, a total of 17 deaths and 19 seriously injured.

“Hundreds, maybe thousands of houses were damaged,” Herman Suherman, head of the Cianjur city administration in West Java, told Kompas TV.

People receive care on the street after the earthquake in Indonesia. (AP).

Herman Suherman noted about 700 people were injured.

The epicenter of the earthquake was located near Cianjurabout 110 km southeast of jakartaaccording to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), which established that the tremor had a magnitude of 5.4.

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Shops, a hospital and an Islamic boarding school in the city suffered significant damage during the earthquake, according to the local press.

In the media you could see several buildings in the town with the roof collapsed.

Many of the injured people had fractures after being found trapped in the rubble of the buildings, said Suherman, who reported that relatives of the victims went to the Sayang hospital.

“There are many families in the villages that could not be evacuated,” added.

Evacuated buildings in Jakarta

Authorities had earlier reported the rescue of a woman and a baby trapped in a landslide in cianjur.

“We ask people to stay outside buildings for now, keeping in mind that there could be possible aftershocks.”the director of the Indonesian meteorological agency, Dwikorita Karnawati, told the press.

In jakarta The jolt was also felt, but for the moment neither victims nor significant damage were recorded.

Several people rushed out of the buildings. Mayadita Waluyo, a 22-year-old lawyer, described the panic of the workers, running for the emergency exits.

“I was working when the ground shook. I could clearly feel the jolt.”recounted.

Hundreds of people waited outside the buildings after the earthquake. Some of them wore protective helmets against possible falling debris, an AFP journalist found.

Indonesia often registers earthquakes because it is in the Pacific “ring of fire”meeting point of tectonic plates.

In 2018, on the island of Lombok and the neighboring island of Sumbawa, a violent earthquake caused more than 550 deaths.

That same year, another earthquakemeasuring 7.5 magnitude, triggered a tsunami that hit Palu, on the island of Sulawesi, killing or missing 4,300 people.

In 2006, the java island suffered a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in the center. There were 6,000 deaths and tens of thousands of injuries.

But the country is still marked by the earthquake of December 26, 2004, with a magnitude of 9.1, off the coast of Sumatra.

the powerful shaking unleashed a devastating tsunami which killed 220,000 people across the region, including 170,000 in Indonesia, one of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded.

Source: Elcomercio