Thaindian News

Jakarta, Sep 2 (DPA) At least 15 people were killed and dozens injured Wednesday when a 7.3-magnitude earthquake rocked Indonesia’s Java Island, officials said.
The quake was felt strongly in the capital Jakarta, shaking buildings and sending residents running out of their homes and high-rise office towers in panic.

A tsunami alert was cancelled about 45 minutes later after no giant waves materialised.

“Four people were killed in Tasikmalaya, 10 in Cianjur and one in Sukabumi,” said Priyadi Kardono, a spokesman for the National Agency for Disaster Management, referring to the worst-hit districts in West Java province.

“We expect the death toll will rise because we have not received information from other areas,” he said.

He said dozens were injured and many houses and buildings damaged in those areas.

Ten office buildings collapsed in the West Java capital of Bandung but there were no reports of fatalities, he said.

The quake struck at 2.55 p.m. (0755 GMT) with its epicentre in the Indian Ocean, 142 km southwest of Tasikmalaya, 30 km beneath the seabed.

The US Geological Survey put the quake’s magnitude at 7.4. Reports from several West Java cities and district towns said the powerful quake also cut electricity and telephone lines.

“All the people here panicked. I saw roofs falling down,” Lia Amalia, a visitor at a shopping mall in Bogor, about 60-km south of Jakarta, told detik.com online news service.