JAVA-(MaraviPost)-At least 46 people have died and hundreds others injured following a shallow 5.6-magnitude earthquake that shook Indonesia’s main island Java on Monday, November 21.
National Disaster Mitigation Agency Chief Suharyanto confirmed the death toll in a statement adding that a number of buildings had been damaged including a hospital and boarding school.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the magnitude 5.6 quake was centered in the Cianjur region in West Java province at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).
The quake was felt strongly in the greater Jakarta area with high rises in the capital, and several people have been evacuated following the disaster.
AP report indicated that the Information about the number of casualties and the extent of damage is still being collected but there’s currently no indication that the quake can likely trigger a tsunami.
Earthquake, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis are common in the country due to its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
Earlier this year, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed at least 25 people and injured more than 460 in West Sumatra province. Last year, another 6.2 magnitude earthquake killed more than 100 people and injured nearly 6,500 in West Sulawesi province.
The most deadly quake that triggered a tsunami originating from the Indian Ocean killed nearly 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia in 2004.
