DPA
JAKARTA
At least 162 people are dead and hundreds more injured after a shallow magnitude-5.6 earthquake struck near the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on Monday, an official said.
Videos posted on social media and television footage showed widespread devastation in Cianjur, the community hit worst, with cracked roads and houses reduced to rubble.
“It is with regret that I convey this bad news. One hundred and sixty-two people died and 326 were injured, mostly with broken bones,” Governor Ridwan Kamil told reporters.
More than 13,000 people were displaced and 2,000 homes were badly damaged, he said.
Earlier in the day, the National Disaster Management Agency said 25 people were still trapped under the rubble in Cianjur’s Cugenang area.
Cianjur district chief Herman Suherman said at least 40 of the dead were children who were hit by collapsed buildings.
Earlier he said that some areas remained isolated because of landslides.
“Injured victims remain untreated in hospitals because there are not enough health workers.” Metro TV showed scores of people lying outside the Sayang General Hospital in Cianjur, some attached to intravenous drips.
Suharyanto, the head of the National Disaster Management Agency, said most of the victims were hit by debris from their collapsed homes.
“Many people died because their homes were unable to withstand the quake,” he said.
Suharyanto said casualties could have been much higher if the quake had happened at night. “It happened during the day and many people were not at home,” said Suharyanto, who goes by one name.
Mobile phone video footage showed residents screaming while holding little children who were badly injured.
“Help! There are injured people here,” a man shouted.
“My house! My house is gone!” said a weeping woman in television footage as she stood outside her collapsed home in Cianjur. The quake struck at 1:21 pm (0621 GMT) with the epicentre 10 kilometres south-west of Cianjur, the National Meteorological, Geophysical and Climatological Agency said.
There was no threat of a tsunami, it said.
The quake caused high-rise buildings in Jakarta to sway, prompting residents and office workers to rush out in panic.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area noted for frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
