A report by Herman Suherman, administration head in the Cianjur town of West Java, says that at least 270 people have lost their lives, and about 700 have been injured due to the current earthquake in Indonesia. It occurred on Monday in Java, the main island in Indonesia. While talking to Kompas TV, he said that at the time, more victims were being brought in from the surrounding areas. Over 150 people are still missing.
Cianjur, a town found 75 kilometers to the southeast of Jakarta, was hit by an earthquake with a depth of 6.2 miles (10 kilometers), according to BMKG, the weather, and geophysics agency. According to their reports, this earthquake presented no threat of a tsunami. The national disaster agency, in a statement, said that the quake damaged an Islamic boarding school and several homes in the area. Still, the full extent of the damage is yet to be fully determined.
The footage aired by Metro TV displayed some buildings that the quake had brought down while worried and desperate residents huddled outside. A local witnessing the event talks of feeling a “huge tremor” that damaged the ceiling and walls of his office building. He reckons seeing people running out of their houses, with some vomiting and fainting in response.
BMKG said they had recorded 25 aftershocks two hours after the main earthquake hit. Effects of the occurrence reached the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, causing some people to evacuate office buildings in the city’s central business district. Reuters has it that other people reported seeing their furniture move and feeling the buildings they were occupying shake.
The country of Indonesia sits on the “Pacific Ring of Fire.” This is a zone with very high levels of seismic activity. Geographers have explained this as the meeting point of the earth’s crust plates. This has led to the formation of a high volume of earthquakes and a large number of volcanoes.
