Java Quake Toll Rises: Three Dead, Seven Hurt, 800 Homes Damaged or Destroyed

Banyumas, MINA – Three people were killed and seven others injured when a powerful earthquake struck near the Indonesian island of Java.

All of the dead victims were hit by debris from their houses in separate locations on Java island during the late Friday quake, AAP reported, citing Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency (BNPT) spokesman Sutopo Nugroho.

About 70 patients in a general hospital in Banyumas district were evacuated after its ceilings collapsed, walls cracked and oxygen pipes leaked.

Sutopo says about 70 patients in a general hospital in Banyumas district were also evacuated after its ceilings collapsed, walls cracked and oxygen pipes leaked.

“Several hospitals were damaged so patients had to be treated outside,” he said. Nearly 800 houses across Java were damaged or collapsed, he added on Saturday.

The quake struck 300 kilometres east-southeast of Cipatujah, a coastal district in West Java, at 11.47pm local time, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). It took place at a depth of 91km.

Indonesia’s Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) put the magnitude of the quake at 6.9 on the Richter scale. A tsunami warning issued by the agency was later withdrawn.

Kate Walton, an Australian living in Indonesia who was in the West Java city of Bandung at the time of the quake, said on Twitter that she had “never felt a quake so strong”.

“Looks like there were two strong quakes at the exact same moment from slightly different spots. No wonder it felt weird. Like everything was rolling.”

Residents in other parts of Java island also took to social media to report strong tremors.(T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)