Earthquake damages 65 houses in West Java

WEST JAVA: As many as 65 houses in the West Java district of Ciamis were damaged after a 5.6-magnitude earthquake rattled neighboring Pangandaran district on Sunday, the local disaster mitigation office reported.

The 65 homes were located in the 10 sub-districts of Lakbok, Banjarsari, Purwadadi, Pamarican, Ciamis, Tambaksari, Sadananya, Cimaragas, Banjaranyar, and Baregbeg, chief of emergency and logistics at the Ciamis District Disaster Mitigation Office (BPBD), Memet Hikmat, said.

Thirty-eight houses were destroyed in Pamarican sub-district, which bore the brunt of the earthquake. Meanwhile, 12 houses were destroyed in Purwadadi sub-district.

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A preliminary report had put the number of damaged houses at 13. The number increased to 65 after the BPBD team collected data on the buildings destroyed by Sunday’s quake, Hikmat said.

“Up till now our officers are still in the field. Hopefully, the number of destroyed houses will not increase,” he added.

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He said the BPBD has distributed relief aid among those displaced by the quake.

The quake jolted southwest parts of Pangandaran district on Sunday morning. The quake was felt by many residents in several parts of West Java, Central Java, and Yogyakarta provinces.

Tremors were felt by those in the districts of Pangandaran, Sukabumi, Tasikmalaya, Kuningan, Garut, and Cilacap, head of the earthquake and tsunami division of the Jakarta-based Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), Rahmat Triyono, said.