Jakarta: The death toll from an earthquake that hit Indonesia’s main island Java last month has jumped by hundreds to 602 after final tabulation, a local administration official said on Friday.
A 5.6 magnitude earthquake hit West Java’s Cianjur on November 21. The preliminary death toll was estimated at 334 in late November.
“I have received complete data on casualties from 13 sub-districts. The death toll from the recent quake, based on names and addresses, has reached 602,” Cianjur District Head Herman Suherman was quoted as saying by Indonesian news agency Antara.
The official added that 397 of the 602 dead were found in the Cugenang sub-district, some of them killed by debris of over 40,000 buildings damaged as a result of the earthquake.
The quake damaged more than 62,000 houses and forced more than 73,000 people to evacuate to at least 325 shelters, officials said.
Indonesia is located in a seismically active zone and regularly suffers from powerful earthquakes. Every year, seismologists register up to 7,000 earthquakes with a magnitude above 4.0.
(With inputs from agencies)
