Thu, September 03, 2009
JAKARTA, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- At least 44 people were killed and hundreds of houses and buildings were destroyed in the powerful quake in West Java, Indonesia, Wednesday afternoon, an local official said.
"The provisional report from the West Java disaster coordinating official said the death toll has reached 44 people and mostly found in Cianjur district," Antara news agency on Thursday quoted West Java governor Heryawan as saying.
Heryawan said Wednesday night that among the dead victims 10 were found in Cianjur, eight each in Bandung and Tasikmalaya, three in Garut, two in Bogor, one each in Sukabumi, Ciamis and Bandung Barat districts.
In addition the tremor also destroyed 795 houses, four mosques, one Islamic Boarding school (Pesantren) and five school buildings.
Most of the victims died when their houses collapsed or were buried in landslides that occurred after the quake in Pamoyangan and Cikangkareng villages.
"According to data of the security section, up to 200 victims have been referred to a local hospital until 7 p.m, including two who had died," a security official, Edi Harapa, said.
He said most of the victims suffered broken bones or head injuries.
The earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale shook southwest Tasikmalaya, West Java, at 2:55 p.m. local time on Wednesday, causing panic in as far as Jakarta.
The quake's epicenter was located at 8.24 degrees south latitude and 107.32 degrees east longitude, according to the Indonesian meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency.
