Earthquake in Indonesia leaves at least 56 dead – 11/21/2022 – World

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.6 struck the main island of Java in the archipelago IndonesiaMonday (21), left at least 56 dead and 700 injured, according to the governor of West Java Province, Ridwan Kamel.

The death toll is expected to rise and thousands of homes have been damaged, a spokesman for the hardest-hit city of Cianjur told AFP. The municipality has a population of 170,000, and is about 110 kilometers from the country’s capital, Jakarta.

Local newspapers reported that the earthquake partially or completely destroyed commercial establishments, a hospital and an Islamic school in the city. The footage shows several buildings in Cianjur with roofs blown off and in rubble.

In Jakarta, the earthquake was felt, albeit on a smaller scale, but no casualties or damage to urban infrastructure were reported. Two hours after the earthquake, at least 25 aftershocks were recorded, according to the Meteorological Agency. The government says there is a risk of landslides in the event of heavy rains.

The event led to a power outage, which disrupted communications in part of the district, said Hermann Suhrmann, an official in the Cianjur administration. In Kojinang sub-district, it is still not possible to evacuate families due to a landslide blocking access to the site.

Dwikorita Karnawati, director of the Meteorological Agency, urged people to stay outside buildings as more aftershocks could be recorded, increasing the risk of collapse of structures.

The Asian country straddles the Pacific Ring of Fire. A very active seismic area, where different plates of the earth’s crust meet, which leads to a greater number of earthquakes and volcanoes. In one of the worst recent events, More than 2,000 people died in the earthquake On the island of Sulawesi in September 2018🇧🇷

In 2004, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra It caused tsunamis that hit 14 countries in the regionkilling a total of 226,000 people along the Indian Ocean coast, more than half of them in Indonesia.

Mochlis, a citizen who was in Cianjur when the quake struck, said the walls and ceiling of his office building were damaged. “I was so shocked, I feared another earthquake,” he told Metro TV, adding that people were running out of their homes, some fainting and vomiting.

A report by the British BBC said that the area where the epicenter occurred is densely populated and prone to landslides, especially due to homes with poor infrastructure. Rescue teams are trying to get people out of collapsed buildings.

The earthquake occurred less than a week later The conclusion of the G20 meeting, which also took place in Indonesia, but on the island of Bali. World leaders gathered there, such as the presidents of the United States and France, Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron, respectively, and Russia’s chancellor, Sergei Lavrov.

The meeting had economic and development agenda on the agenda, but was overshadowed by discussions about the Ukrainian war.