At least 56 dead, hundreds injured as earthquake hits Indonesia’s Java island | World news

A shallow 5.6-magnitude earthquake killed at least 56 people and injured hundreds when it damaged homes and caused landslides on Indonesia’s main island of Java on Monday, officials said.

Doctors treated patients outside after the quake – felt as far away as the capital Jakarta – left hospitals without power for several hours.

“You can see for yourself, some have their heads, legs stretched out. Some are stressed and start to cry,” West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil told a press conference broadcast on TV Kompas.

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He added that power was partially restored by the evening, without specifying whether it was through a generator or connection to a power grid.

The afternoon earthquake was centered in the Cianjur region of West Java, according to the United States Geological Survey, with local authorities saying 56 people were killed and more than 700 injured.

“Because there are still many people trapped on the site, we think that injuries and fatalities will increase over time,” Kamil said as ambulance sirens blared throughout his press conference.

Most of the deaths were counted in a hospital, the head of the regional administration of Cianjur Herman Suherman said earlier, with most of the victims killed in the ruins of the collapsed buildings.

He told local media that the city’s Sayang hospital was without power after the earthquake, leaving doctors unable to immediately operate on victims.

More health workers are urgently needed due to the large number of patients, he added.

Locals rushed the victims to the hospital on trucks and motorcycles, according to a photo obtained by AFP.

They were placed in front of the factory as residents spread a tarpaulin on the road for the bodies.

Kamil, the governor, said several landslides had cut off road access to some areas and bulldozers were used to open them.

– ‘State of Emergency’ –

Thousands of houses may have been damaged in the earthquake, Adam, a spokesman for the administration who, like most Indonesians, has a name, told AFP.

Shops, a hospital and an Islamic boarding school in the city were badly damaged, according to Indonesian media.

Broadcasters showed many houses in Cianjur with their roofs collapsed and debris on the streets.

Relatives of the victims gathered at the hospital while in another facility, the Cimacan hospital, green tents were set up outside for the treatment of patients, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

“We are currently taking care of people who are in an emergency situation in this hospital. Ambulances continue to come from the villages to the hospital,” said Suherman.

“There are many families in villages that have not been evacuated.”

Indonesian disaster chief Suharyanto, who also went by one name, said information was “still developing”.

Cianjur police chief Doni Hermawan told Metro TV authorities that a woman and a child were rescued from the landslide but the third person they found died of their injuries.

Jakarta shouts –

French President Emmanuel Macron was the first world leader to offer condolences.

“Indonesia was hit this morning by an earthquake of destruction and killing power. Thoughts for all the victims,” ​​he wrote. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has not yet responded to the earthquake.

Indonesia’s weather agency warned residents near the epicenter to be on the lookout for more earthquakes.

Indonesia’s meteorological agency said it recorded 25 aftershocks in Cianjur after the quake. They range from 1.8 to 4 on the Richter scale.

But there were no reports of injuries or major damage in Jakarta.

Mayadita Waluyo, a 22-year-old lawyer, described how panic-stricken workers rushed to their homes in Jakarta when the earthquake struck.

“I was working when the ground beneath me was shaking. I could feel the vibration clearly. I tried to do anything to process what it was but it got stronger and it stopped for a while,” he tell.

“I feel a little dizzy now and my legs are still a little because I had to walk down from the 14th floor.”

Hundreds of people were waiting outside after the quake, with some wearing hard hats to protect themselves from the falling debris, an AFP reporter there said.

Indonesia experiences frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide.

The 6.2-magnitude earthquake that shook the island of Sulawesi in January 2021 killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless.