Indonesia’s main island of Java was shaken by an earthquake on Monday, which left at least 162 dead and 326 injured. It also damaged dozens of buildings. 

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the magnitude of the tremor was 5.6. It was centered in the Cianjur region in West Java province, a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). Dozens of buildings, including houses, were damaged, local officials in Cianjur district said. 

“There have been dozens of people killed. Hundreds, even maybe thousands of houses are damaged. So far, 44 people have died,” Adam, spokesman for the local administration in Cianjur town in West Java, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP.

More than 2,000 houses were damaged and more than 5,000 people were taken to evacuation centres.

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In videos widely shared on social media buildings could be seen shaking during the earthquake.

The quake was strongly felt in the greater Jakarta area. High-rises in the capital swayed for more than three minutes and some were evacuated.

“The quake felt so strong. My colleagues and I decided to get out of our office on the ninth floor with emergency stairs,” said Vidi Primadhania, an employee in South Jakarta.

Earthquakes occur frequently across the sprawling archipelago nation, but it is uncommon for them to be felt in Jakarta.

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Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 270 million people, is frequently struck by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis because of its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

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 killed more than 100 people and injured nearly 6,500 in West Sulawesi province.

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