Indonesia: Java quake kills 162 and injures hundreds - BBC

An earthquake connected the main Indonesian land of Java has killed astatine slightest 162 radical and injured hundreds, determination politician Ridwan Kamil has said.

The 5.6 magnitude quake struck Cianjur municipality successful West Java, astatine a shallow extent of 10km (six miles), according to US Geological Survey data.

Scores of radical were taken to hospital, with galore treated outside.

Rescuers person worked done the nighttime to effort to prevention others thought to inactive beryllium trapped nether collapsed buildings.

The country wherever the quake struck is densely populated and prone to landslides, with poorly built houses reduced to rubble successful galore areas.

Earlier, Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said astatine slightest 62 radical had died, according to the latest disposable data.

Speaking to section media, Mr Kamil said immoderate 326 radical had been injured successful the quake, noting that "most of them sustained fractures from being crushed successful ruins".

But helium warned immoderate residents remained "trapped successful isolated places" and said officials were "under the presumption that the fig of injured and deaths volition emergence with time".

The West Java politician added that much than 13,000 radical had been displaced by the disaster, and the BNPB said much than 2,200 homes had been damaged by the quake.

Herman Suherman, the caput of medication successful Cianjur town, said astir injuries were bony fractures sustained from radical being trapped by debris successful buildings.

"The ambulances support connected coming from the villages to the hospital," helium was quoted by AFP quality bureau arsenic saying earlier successful the day. "There are galore families successful villages that person not been evacuated."

Many of the injured were treated extracurricular successful a infirmary car parkland aft the infirmary was near without powerfulness for respective hours pursuing the quake, West Java's politician said.

On Monday night, Mr Kamil wrote connected Twitter that it could instrumentality up to 3 days for powerfulness to beryllium afloat restored to the area. He added that mobile telephone reception remained mediocre and was causing "a batch of problems" for officials.

The tremor could besides beryllium felt successful the superior Jakarta astir 100km away, wherever radical were evacuated from high-rise buildings.

Office workers rushed retired of buildings successful the civic and concern territory during the tremor, which started astatine 13:21 Western Indonesian clip (WIT) connected Monday, the bureau said.

"I was moving erstwhile the level nether maine was shaking. I could consciousness the tremor clearly. I tried to bash thing to process what it was, but it became adjacent stronger and lasted for immoderate time," lawyer Mayadita Waluyo told AFP.

An bureau idiosyncratic named Ahmad Ridwan told quality bureau Reuters: "We are utilized to this [earthquakes] successful Jakarta, but radical were truthful tense conscionable now, truthful we besides panicked."

Earthquakes are communal successful Indonesia, which sits connected the "ring of fire" country of tectonic enactment successful the Pacific. The state has a past of devastating earthquakes and tsunamis, with more than 2,000 killed successful a 2018 Sulawesi quake.