Scores of children among 162 killed in Java quake

AN EARTHQUAKE that hit the Indonesian island of Java has killed at least 162 people and left hundreds injured.

Emergency workers treated the injured on stretchers and blankets outside hospitals and in car parks after the magnitude 5.6 tremor yesterday.

Thousands of people, countless with children in their arms, fled their damaged homes after the earthquake shook the Cianjur region in West Java at a depth of 6.2 miles. The tremor also caused panic in the greater Jakarta area, with high-rise buildings evacuated.

West Java governor Ridwan Kamil said: ‘The majority of those who died were children.’

Around 2,300 homes were heavily damaged and 13,400 people displaced.

Rescue teams and locals were last night searching for people who may have been buried under the debris of collapsed houses. A spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said that around 700 people were injured.