QUAKE TRAGEDY
At least 162 dead after horror earthquake triggers landslide and buildings collapse in Indonesia
AT least 162 people have been killed after a massive earthquake rocked Indonesia's main island of Java, officials said.
Rescuers are still scrambling to find survivors buried under the rubble after the magnitude 5.6 quake rattled the Cianjur region on Monday afternoon.
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West Java governor Ridwan Kamil said at least 162 people have been confirmed dead and more than 300 left seriously injured, according to local media reports.
"There are still a lot of people trapped on the scene, we assume injuries and fatalities will increase over time," he said earlier.
He said many buildings "crumbled and shattered" - and more than 13,000 people have been displaced.
Herman Suherman, the head of the administration in Cianjur, said the majority of deaths were counted in just one hospital - with most of the victims killed in the ruins of collapsed buildings.
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He said the town's Sayang hospital was left with no power after the quake - leaving doctors unable to operate on victims.
Images showed a makeshift pop-up tent in the car park as residents rushed victims to the hospital on trucks and motorbikes and medics faced a huge influx of patients.
Cianjur police chief Doni Hermawan said emergency services rescued a woman and a baby from a landslide - but a third person they found tragically died from their injuries.
According to reports, eight cars have been left trapped by another landslide.
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And rescue workers are struggling to get to the Cugenag area after a landslide cut off access.
Footage showed several buildings in the town of Cianjur - including a boarding school - reduced almost entirely to rubble as locals huddled outside.
The country's meteorological agency warned residents to watch out for more tremors.
"We call on people to stay outside the buildings for now as there might be potential aftershocks," head of Indonesia's meteorological agency, Dwikorita Karnawati, told reporters.
The national disaster agency, the BKMG, said up to 700 people had been injured and more than 300 homes damaged or destroyed.
Muchlis, who was in his office in Cianjur when the massive quake hit, said he felt "a huge tremor" and people ran out of their homes in a panic.
"I was very shocked. I worried there would be another quake," he told Metro TV.
In the two hours after the quake, 25 aftershocks were recorded, the BMKG said, adding there was a danger of landslides.
The quake was also felt strongly in the greater Jakarta area as high rises in the capital swayed and hundreds dashed out of buildings.
Mayadita Waluyo, a 22-year-old lawyer, described how panicked workers fled for the exits in the capital 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.
"I feel a bit dizzy now and my legs are also a bit cramped because I had to walk downstairs from the 14th floor."
Earthquakes occur frequently across the sprawling nation of Indonesia - but it is uncommon for them to be felt in Jakarta.
The country of more than 270 million people is often struck by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis due to its location on the Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
In February, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed at least 25 people and injured more than 460 in West Sumatra province.
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In January 2021, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed more than 100 people and injured nearly 6,500 in West Sulawesi province.
And a powerful Indian Ocean quake and tsunami in 2004 killed nearly 230,000 people in a dozen countries - most of them in Indonesia.
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