62 dead as quake rocks Indonesia’s main Java island
Ashallow 5.6-magnitude earthquake killed at least 62 people and injured hundreds when it damaged buildings and triggered landslides on Indonesia’s main island of Java yesterday, officials said.
Doctors treated patients outdoors after the quake — felt as far away as the capital Jakarta — left hospitals without power for several hours.
“You can see it yourself, some got their heads, feet sewn outdoors. Some got stressed and started crying,” West Java governor Ridwan Kamil told a press conference broadcast on Kompas TV.
He added that power had been partially restored by the evening, without specifying if through a generator or connection to a power grid.
The afternoon quake was centered in the Cianjur region of West Java, according to the United States Geological Survey, with local authorities saying 62 people had been killed and more than 700 wounded.
“Because there are still a lot of people trapped on the scene, we assume injuries and fatalities will increase over time,” said Kamil as ambulance sirens blared throughout his press conference.
The majority of deaths were counted in one hospital, head of Cianjur’s local administration Herman Suherman said earlier, with most of the victims killed in the ruins of collapsed buildings.
He told local media the town’s Sayang hospital had no power after the quake, leaving doctors unable to immediately operate on victims.
More health workers were urgently needed due to the overwhelming number of patients, he added.
Locals rushed victims to the hospital on pickup trucks and motorbikes, according to television footage.
They were placed in front of the facility as residents spread a tarpaulin on the road for the bodies.
Kamil, the governor, said multiple landslides had cut off road access to some areas and bulldozers were being used to open them up.
Thousands of houses could have been damaged in the quake, Adam, a spokesperson for the administration who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name, noted.
Shops, a hospital and an Islamic boarding school in the town were severely damaged, according to Indonesian media.
Broadcasters showed several buildings in Cianjur with their roofs collapsed and debris lining the streets.
Relatives of victims congregated at
the hospital while at another facility, Cimacan hospital, green tents were erected outside for makeshift treatment, according to a local reporter.
“We are currently handling people who are in an emergency state in this hospital. The ambulances keep on coming from the villages to the hospital,” Suherman said.
“There are many families in villages that have not been evacuated.”
Indonesia’s disaster chief Suharyanto, who also goes by one name, said information was “still developing.”
Cianjur police chief Doni Hermawan told Metro TV that authorities had rescued a woman and a baby from a landslide but a third person they found had died of their injuries.
French President Emmanuel Macron was the first world leader to offer his condolences.
“Indonesia was hit this morning by an earthquake of destructive and deadly force. Thoughts for all the victims,” he wrote.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo was yet to respond to the quake.
Indonesia’s meteorological agency warned residents near the epicenter to watch out for more tremors.
Indonesia’s meteorological agency said it recorded 25 aftershocks in Cianjur after the quake. They ranged from magnitudes 1.8 to 4 on the Richter scale. But there were no reports of casualties or big damage in Jakarta.
Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where tectonic plates collide.
A 6.2-magnitude quake that shook Sulawesi island in January 2021 killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless.