Fresh quakes in Java and Bali leave three dead
by Mathias Hariyadi

They were all resident in the regency of Sumenep, (province of East Java) and include Nuril Kamiliya, 7, of Prambanan. The authorities located the epicenter of the quake 61 km northeast of the city of Situbondo (East Java). Citizens invited not to "feed" tensions, spreading "fake news" on the impact of the earthquake and providing "distorted information".


Jakarta (AsiaNews) - At least three people died because of a 6.4 magnitude earthquake, which hit off the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali overnight. The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) states that the victims were all resident in the regency of Sumenep, (province of East Java) and include Nuril Kamiliya, 7, of Prambanan. At the time of the earthquake, at 1.44 am, they slept and were buried in the rubble of their homes.

The authorities located the epicenter of the quake 61 km northeast of the city of Situbondo (East Java). The island of Java is the most populous in Indonesia and is located right next to the island of Bali, where the annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (Wbg) are being held this week. Dwikorita Karnawati, director of the Indonesian Agency of Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (Bmkg), states that "the earthquake did not cause any tsunami".

The governor of East Java, Soekarno "Pakdhe Karwo", went to the site of the earthquake together with the provincial police chief and the army commander. The three have already carried out an inspection on the Sapudi Islands and in the regency of Sumenep, located on the island of Madura. Sumenep, and in particular the Guyam sub-district were the areas most affected by the earthquake: the authorities claim that collapses and damage to buildings have occurred, but the damage is limited.

The officials called on citizens not to "feed" tension, spreading "fake news" about the impact of the earthquake and providing distorted information. Last month, an earthquake of magnitude 7.4 in Central Sulawesi killed more than 2 thousand people and destroyed tens of thousands of homes. This happened after the earthquakes in Lombok, east of Bali, where the victims were more than 500 last August.