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Three dead as strong quake hits Indonesia

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Jakarta: At least three people have been killed following a strong 6.5-magnitude earthquake on Indonesia’s main island of Java, an official said on Saturday.


The quake struck at a depth of 91 kilometres just outside the coastal town of Cipatujah on Java island late on Friday, the US Geological Survey said.


The tremor was felt across the island including in the capital Jakarta, some 300 kilometres from the epicentre.


A 62-year-old man in Ciamis and an 80-year-old woman in Pekalongan city were killed when the buildings they were in collapsed, national disaster mitigation agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said, while a 34-year-old woman from the city of Yogyakarta died when she fell while running out of her house.


“Several hospitals in several areas have also been damaged and patients had to be evacuated,” Nugroho said.


A hospital in Banyumas suffered damage to ceilings, cracked walls and leaks to oxygen pipelines, forcing around 70 patients to be moved to temporary shelters.


At least nine hundred houses were also damaged in addition to schools and government offices across West Java and Central Java provinces, the national disaster mitigation agency said.


Aid is being distributed and temporary tents have been set up for those who have lost their homes.


Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide.


Some 170,000 lives were lost when a 9.1-magnitude quake and tsunami struck Aceh province in December 2004, which also hit coastal areas as far away as Somalia. An earthquake struck Aceh again in December 2016, killing more than 100 people, injuring many others and leaving tens of thousands homeless. — AFP


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