Death toll of Indonesia’s quake rises to 162

A 5.6-magnitude earthquake that hit the Indonesia’s West Java province, on Monday, has killed at least 162 people, officials said.

The quake also caused heavy damage to many houses, buildings and infrastructure facilities.

People strongly felt the tremors in the national capital Jakarta.

About 13,784 people were forced to flee their homes and take shelter as their houses were damaged by the quake.

This is according to data issued by the disaster management and mitigation agency of the district of Cianjur, one of the hardest-hit areas.

The infrastructure facilities damaged by the quake include roads, a bridge, school buildings, office buildings, mosques and health facilities.

The significant rise in the number of casualties was due to a new report of landslides that buried about 100 residents, Nena Fatimah, a Senior Officer at the data and information unit of the district’s disaster management and mitigation agency, told Xinhua by phone.

The agency has established 47 centres, providing food and medicine for quake-impacted victims, according to the Disaster Management Agency official.

The quake struck at 13:21 Jakarta time (0621 GMT) with the epicentre located 10 kilometres southwest of the district of Cianjur in West Java province, and with a depth of 10 kilometres, the meteorological, climatological and geophysical agency said. (Xinhua)