Magnitude 6.1 quake strikes off Indonesia's Java island

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the shore of Indonesia’s Java island on Friday, at a depth of 10km (6.21 miles), Indonesia’s geophysics agency (BKMG) said.

The epicentre was located 132 km north of Tuban in East Java province, BMKG said.

The tremors were felt strongly in East Java, its capital Surabaya, as well as cities in neighboring provinces, according to multiple postings by social media users in those areas.

The quake has no potential to trigger a tsunami, BMKG said.

There were no immediate reports of damage.

Earlier, at least 44 people were killed in an earthquake that rattled Indonesia’s main island Java.

“There have been dozens of people killed. Hundreds, even maybe thousands of houses are damaged. So far, 44 people have died,” Adam, spokesman for the local administration in Cianjur town in West Java, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP.

A shallow 5.6-magnitude earthquake shook Java with buildings damaged and a landslide triggered.

The top official in the West Java town worst-hit by the tremor said the deaths were counted in one hospital alone, without providing a specific figure, with many others in surrounding villages still to be evacuated.

“The information I got for now, in this hospital alone, nearly 20 died and at least 300 people are being treated,” Herman Suherman, head of the local administration in Cianjur town, told broadcaster Metro TV.

“Most of them had fractures from being trapped by the ruins of buildings.”