Java earthquake wreaks havoc
A SHALLOW 5.6-magnitude earthquake has killed at least 62 people and injured hundreds when it damaged buildings and triggered landslides on Indonesia’s main island of Java, officials have said.
Doctors treated patients outdoors after the earthquake yesterday, felt as far away as the capital Jakarta, left hospitals without power for several hours.
West Java governor Ridwan Kamil said: “You can see it yourself. Some got their heads, feet sewn outdoors. Some got stressed and started crying.”
He said power had been partially restored by the evening, without specifying whether through a generator or connection to a power grid.
The afternoon earthquake was centred in the Cianjur region of West Java, according to the US Geological Survey, with local authorities saying 56 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.
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 said the town’s Sayang hospital had no power after the earthquake, 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 people to the hospital on pickup trucks and motorbikes, according to footage obtained by AFP.
They were placed in front of the facility as residents spread a tarpaulin on the road for the bodies.
Kamil said multiple landslides had cut off road access to some areas and bulldozers were being used to open them.
Thousands of houses could have been damaged in the earthquake, said Adam, a spokesperson for the administration who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name.
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 patients congregated at the hospital, while at another facility, Cimacan hospital, green tents were erected outside for makeshift treatment, a reporter said.
Suherman said: “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. 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 said authorities had rescued a woman and a baby from a landslide but a third person they found had died.
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 earthquake.
Indonesia’s meteorological agency warned residents near the epicentre to watch out for more tremors. It said it recorded 25 aftershocks in Cianjur. They ranged from magnitudes 1.8 to 4 on the Richter scale, but there were no reports of casualties or major damage in Jakarta.
Mayadita Waluyo, a 22-year-old lawyer, described how panicked workers ran to building exits in Jakarta.
“I was working when the floor under me was shaking. I could feel the tremor clearly. I tried to do nothing to process what it was but it became even stronger. I feel a bit dizzy now and my legs are also a bit cramped because I had to walk downstairs from the 14th floor.”
Hundreds of people were waiting outdoors after the earthquake, including some wearing hard hats to protect themselves from falling debris.
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 earthquake that shook Sulawesi island in January last year killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless.