Java Quake Kills 162, Injures Others In Indonesia

At least 162 people have been killed and hundreds injured by an earthquake on the main Indonesian island of Java.

The casualty figure was given yesterday by the regional governor Ridwan Kamil.

The 5.6 magnitude quake struck Cianjur town in West Java, at a shallow depth of 10km (six miles), according to United States (US) Geological Survey data.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said scores of people were taken to hospital, with many treated outside.

Rescuers were working into the night to try to save others thought to still be trapped under collapsed buildings.

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The area where the quake struck is densely populated and prone to landslides, with poorly built houses reduced to rubble in many areas.

Earlier, Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said at least 62 people had died, according to the latest available data.

Speaking to local media, Mr Kamil said some 326 people had been injured in the quake, noting that “most of them sustained fractures from being crushed in ruins”.

But he warned some residents remained “trapped in isolated places” and said officials were “under the assumption that the number of injured and deaths will rise with time”.

The West Java governor added that more than 13,000 people had been displaced by the disaster, and the BNPB said over 2,200 homes had been damaged by the quake.

Herman Suherman, the head of administration in Cianjur town, said most injuries were bone fractures sustained from people being trapped by debris in buildings.

“The ambulances keep on coming from the villages to the hospital,” he was quoted by AFP news agency as saying earlier in the day. “There are many families in villages that have not been evacuated.”

Many of the injured were treated outside in a hospital car park after the hospital was left without power for several hours following the quake, West Java’s governor said.