7 KILLED IN JAVA HIT BY MAGNITUDE 5.9 QUAKE

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck off Indonesia’s Java island on Saturday, killing seven people, severely wounding two and damaging hundreds of buildings in several cities, the country’s disaster mitigation agency BNPB said, Bernadette Christina reported for Reuters.

The quake, which struck at 2 p.m. (0700 GMT) local time, was felt across East Java, home to 40.7 million people, and nearby provinces, including the resort island of Bali, Indonesian media reported.

Ten people were lightly injured, while an unspecified number of people in several villages were moved to evacuation centers as some houses have been destroyed, the BNPB said.

More than 300 homes and dozens of other buildings, including schools, hospitals, government offices and places of worship, were damaged, the agency said. The numbers could change as authorities collect more information about the extent of casualties and damage. A magnitude 6 also struck 214 kilometers south of Sarangani province in Southern Philippines on Sunday, April 11, 2021.

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