Strong Quake Rocks Indonesia

By Barrie | August 8th, 2007 | No Comments

My mobile phone has been going crazy this morning with text messages about the rather large earthquake that rocked most of West Java and through to Bali. I was particularly worried about Yogyakarta and the affect the quake would have there considering the city is still in a fragile state, but, all is well thanks to the Gods.

The news about the earthquake is being covered with great zeal throughout the media and here is what SBS Australia had to say:

A powerful earthquake rocked Indonesia’s main island, Java, in the early hours of Thursday, sending people fleeing into the streets.

Buildings shook, and water sloshed from swimming pools on the island, but there have been no reports of casualties.

The undersea quake, measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale, had its epicentre off the island’s north coast, about 110 km east of the capital, Jakarta, at a depth of 290 km.

Tremors were felt as far afield as Bali, Sumatra, and Yogyakarta, 400 km south of Jakarta, but experts at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said it was “located too deep inside the earth to generate a tsunami”.

No tsunami risk

“There were an awful lot of people panicking in Jakarta,” said locally-based journalist John Aglionby.

“There weren’t people running into the streets in my area, but other people I’ve been speaking to say there was panic both here and in other cities nearby.”

There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries, according to ElShinta radio.

Indonesia sits on the Pacfic’s so-called ‘Ring of Fire’ where a number of continental plates meet, causing frequent seismic activity.

The country was worst-hit in the 2004 quake and tsunami disaster, which killed more than 131,000 people and left half a million more homeless, in Aceh province.