Indonesia's Java escapes 6.4 magnitude quake with few casualties, light damage

[July 01, 2023]  Jakarta (Reuters) -A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the Indonesian island of Java on Friday evening, injuring at least 10 people, while one person died of suspected heart attack during the quake, the country's disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) said. 

A resident shows a damaged house after an earthquake struck off the?Indonesian island of Java in Pagedangan village, Tegal, Central Java province, Indonesia, June 30, 2023, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Oky Lukmansyah/via REUTERS

The tremor caused minor damage to hundreds of houses, some offices, health and education facilities scattered in the region of Yogyakarta and Central Java province, the agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari told Reuters Saturday.

Indonesia's geophysics agency (BMKG) said the quake, which hit at a depth of 25 km (15 miles), was felt in several cities in the region of Yogyakarta as well as east and central Java, Indonesia's most populous island. No tsunami warning was issued.

Indonesia, in Southeast Asia, straddles the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire", a highly active seismic zone where different plates on the Earth's crust meet and set off a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.

(Reporting by Jose Joseph in Bengaluru and Ananda Teresia, Stefanno Sulaiman in Jakarta; editing by Mark Heinrich & Simon Cameron-Moore)

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