- The country's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency ruled out the "potential for a tsunami."

At least 55 dead and some 700 injured by a magnitude 5.6 earthquake in Indonesia

At least 55 dead and some 700 injured by a magnitude 5.6 earthquake in Indonesia

An earthquake of magnitude 5.6 shook the province of West Java on Monday, with almost 50 million inhabitants, the most populous in Indonesia, leaving at least 55 dead and some 700 injured, according to local media, in addition to significant damage in residences and infrastructure.

As confirmed to EFE by the government spokesman for Cianjur, the West Java town where the epicenter of the earthquake occurred, four people died at the Cimacan hospital and 51 at the Sayang hospital in that town. However, the National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB, in Indonesian), confirms, for now, a total of 14 deaths and 17 injuries from the earthquake.

The United States Geological Survey, which records seismic activity around the world, recorded the earthquake at 1:21 p.m. (+7 GMT) and located the hypocenter at a depth of 10 kilometers and the epicenter at 16.7 kilometers from the town of Cianjur, with a population of about 170,000 people.

Indonesia earthquake locator on November 21, 2022. / USGS

In videos circulating on the internet, you can see people on stretchers in a hospital in the region and several others receiving medical assistance. The earthquake also caused damage to homes and infrastructure around Cianjur, which is located about 75 kilometers from Jakarta, where residents also felt the tremors, according to the accounts of users on the networks.

#BreakingNews
⚡️⚡️⚡️The first footage of the destruction caused by a magnitude 5.4 earthquake in western Java. In addition to landslides and collapsed buildings, 2 people died (Indonesia, 11/21/2022).
Subscribe👉TELEGRAM: https://t.co/Uw6hADCvaz#Gempa #earthquake #cianjur pic.twitter.com/VL78pmGqZ7

— BRAVE SPIRIT (@Brave_spirit81) November 21, 2022

idespread damage and chaos in #Cianjur from 5.6 Mw (updated) #earthquake in West Java. #Indonesia pic.twitter.com/eO36BGRcYO

— Prateek Pratap Singh (@PrateekPratap5) November 21, 2022

For its part, Indonesia's Agency for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics (BMKG) estimated the magnitude of the quake at 5.6 and ruled out the "potential for a tsunami."

According to information collected by the Indonesian television channel Kompas, the large number of injuries has caused some of the patients to be treated in the hospital car park due to the absence of beds to treat all the victims.

For its part, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has indicated that the earthquake has shaken the capital, with no reports of serious damage. "Keep calm, do not panic, and evacuate through the designated routes," he recommended through his account on the social network Twitter.

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 each year, most of them moderate. 

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