At least 14 dead in earthquake in one of Australia’s nearest neighbors

An earthquake struck Indonesia’s main island of Java on Monday, killing at least 14 people, damaging dozens of buildings and sending residents onto the streets of the capital for safety.

The magnitude 5.6 quake struck the Cianjur region of West Java province at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to the US Geological Survey.

At least 14 people were killed and 17 others injured, said Suharyanto, head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.

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Dozens of buildings were damaged, including an Islamic boarding school, a hospital and other public facilities, the agency said.

Information on the extent of casualties and damage is still being collected, it said in a statement.

The Office for Weather and Geophysics (BMKG) says there is no tsunami potential.

In the two hours after the quake, 25 aftershocks were registered, the BMKG announced.

Footage from Metro TV showed some buildings in Cianjur almost completely reduced to rubble as concerned residents crowded outside.

Muchlis, who was in Cianjur at the time of the quake, said he felt “a huge shaking” and the walls and ceiling of his office building were damaged.

“I was very shocked. I was worried there would be another quake,” Muchlis told Metro TV, adding that people ran from their homes, with some fainting and vomiting in response.

The earthquake was felt strongly in the Jakarta area. High-rise buildings in the capital swayed and some were evacuated.

“The quake felt so strong. My colleagues and I decided to exit our office on the ninth floor using the emergency stairs,” said Vidi Primadhania, a staffer in South Jakarta.

In February, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed at least 25 people and injured more than 460 in West Sumatra province. In January 2021, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in West Sulawesi province killed more than 100 people and injured nearly 6,500.

A powerful Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in 2004 killed nearly 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia.