Jakarta (AsiaNews) – A violent earthquake of magnitude 7.5 on the Richter scale hit the Indramayu district of western Java, 5 minutes after midnight (6 pm in Italy). The quake was registered at a depth of 289 km and was felt in the capital Jakarta 150 km from the epicentre, where people ran out onto the streets in panic. No immediate casualties or damage were reported, but people slept in the open as a precaution. There was little risk of a tsunami.
Residents of the capital said buildings shook violently during the quake and its aftershocks, adding to the spreading panic. One resident described being woken up on the 26th floor of her apartment by the swaying of her building.
Because of the depth, there was little risk of a tsunami. Many remember the massive undersea earthquake that sparked a tsunami that killed more than 140,000 people in Indonesia alone and devastating entire areas of the South East Asia. “The earthquake centre in 2004 was close enough that it actually ruptured the surface of the sea floor, which caused a tsunami – assured an American geologist - this one was felt by people on the ground and it shook buildings, but it was too deep to cause the ocean bottom to move”. According to the US Geological Survey yesterday’s tremor was felt as far away as Malaysia.