Jakarta, Indonesia — A major earthquake struck parts of Java, Indonesia on Friday, damaging buildings and homes and rushing people to the streets, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. Officials said there was no danger of a tsunami.
According to the US Geological Survey, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean about 88 km (54 miles) southwest of Labuan, a coastal town in Banten. It was in the center at a depth of 37 kilometers (23 miles), it said.
Indonesia’s Director-General for Meteorology, Climate and Geophysics, Dwicorita Karnawati, said there was no danger of a tsunami, but warned of possible aftershocks.
The skyscrapers of the capital Jakarta shook for more than 10 seconds, and some people ordered evacuation and sent the flow of people down the street. In the satellite cities of Tangerang, Bogor and Bekasi, even two-story houses shook violently.
Earthquakes occur frequently across the vast archipelago, but earthquakes rarely occur in Jakarta.
“The tremors were terrible … everything in my room was shaking,” said Laila Anjasari, a Jakarta resident on the 19th floor of the apartment.
Adil Priyanto, head of the search and rescue agency in Banten, said houses and other buildings were damaged in Smur, the closest to the epicenter. Damage was also reported elsewhere.
Authorities are still collecting information from the affected areas, said Abdul Muhari, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency.
Indonesia is located in a major geological fault known as the “Ring of Fire” in the Pacific Ocean, so it is prone to seismic cataclysms.
Last January, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed at least 105 people and injured nearly 6,500 in West Sulawesi.
In 2004, a very strong Indian Ocean earthquake caused a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in 12 countries, most of them in Aceh, Indonesia.
By Niniek Karmini and Edna Tarigan
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