Strong earthquake shakes the Indonesian capital. No tsunami alert

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Jakarta, Indonesia (AFP) – A strong earthquake shook parts of Indonesia’s main island of Java on Friday, damaging buildings and homes and sending people onto the streets, but there were no immediate reports of injuries. Officials said there was no danger of a tsunami.

The US Geological Survey said the 6.6-magnitude earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean about 88 kilometers (54 miles) southwest of Labuan, a coastal town in Banten province. She added that the center was at a depth of 37 kilometers.

Dwikorita Karnawati, head of Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, said there was no danger of a tsunami, but warned of possible aftershocks.

High-rises in the capital Jakarta swayed for more than 10 seconds and some ordered evacuations, sending people onto the streets. Even the two-storey houses shook heavily in the satellite cities of Tangerang, Bogor and Bekasi.

Earthquakes occur frequently throughout the sprawling archipelago, but it is not uncommon to feel them in Jakarta.

“The earthquake was horrific…Everything in my room was swaying. We ran outside and went down the stairs in panic,” said Laila Angasari, a Jakarta resident who lives on the 19th floor of an apartment building.

Adil Priyanto, who heads the search and rescue agency in Banten province, said homes and other buildings were damaged in Sumur, the area closest to the epicenter. Damage has also been reported elsewhere.

Abdel-Mahari, a spokesperson for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said authorities were still collecting information from the affected areas.

Indonesia is vulnerable to seismic disturbances due to its location on major geological faults known as the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.

In January last year, a 6.2-magnitude earthquake killed at least 105 people and injured nearly 6,500 in West Sulawesi province.

In 2004, a very strong earthquake in the Indian Ocean triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, mostly in the Indonesian province of Aceh.

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