At least 14 dead after M5.6 earthquake in Indonesia

Jakarta, Nov 21 (EFE).- A magnitude-5.6 earthquake shook the Indonesian province of West Java on Monday, killing at least 14 people and damaging homes and infrastructure, the country’s disaster agency said.

Suharyanto, the head of the National Agency for Disaster Countermeasure (BNPB), reported the 14 killed as well as at least 17 people injured in the tremor, which was felt by people across the country’s most populated province with almost 50 million residents.

The United States Geological Survey recorded the earthquake at 1.21 pm (08:00 GMT) at a depth of 10 kilometers. The BNPB said it was located about 10 km southwest of Cianjur regency.

Footage and photos posted to social media showed injured people on stretchers receiving medical assistance and piles of rubble.

The earthquake caused damage to homes and infrastructure around Cianjur, about 75 kilometers from capital Jakarta, where it was also felt.

The Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) ruled out potential for a tsunami.

Indonesia, with some 275 million inhabitants, sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of great seismic and volcanic activity in which some 7,000 earthquakes are recorded every year, most of them moderate. EFE

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