() — A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia’s West Java province on Saturday, the country’s geophysics agency BMKG reported.
According to the BMKG, the epicenter of the earthquake was on land and there is no potential danger of a tsunami.
One person was injured and four houses and a school were damaged in the town of Garut, according to the country’s National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB).
Aftershocks were not reported. However, the head of the BNPB, Major General Suharyanto, asked residents to remain calm, alert and careful, adding that a response team will be dispatched to assess the various needs.
“In response to the quake, once again stay calm, stay alert, but there is no need to stop daily activities,” Suharyanto said.
“According to the BMKG, this earthquake was quite deep. Based on the experience of previous earthquakes, with a depth of more than 60 kilometers, plus it is above 100 kilometers, it is expected that the impact… will not be too big,” Suharyanto added.
This earthquake occurs after a deadly earthquake of magnitude 5.6 shook western Java on November 21, with a final balance of 334 deaths. The search and rescue operation after the November earthquake has been completed, the BNPB said on Saturday.
Final details on the total number of injured and displaced people have not yet been released.
Suharyanto said that 56,320 houses were damaged in that quake, more than a third of them seriously. Among other damaged buildings, 31 schools, 124 places of worship and three health facilities were registered.
Indonesia sits on the “Ring of Fire,” a band around the Pacific Ocean that triggers frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity. It is one of the areas with the greatest seismic activity on the planet; it stretches from Japan and Indonesia on one side of the Pacific to California and South America on the other.
‘s Rhea Mogul contributed to this report.
