Powerful earthquakes rock Solomon Islands, Indonesia, Turkey; killing at least 268 people on Java

A 6.1 magnitude quake has rocked Turkey, as Indonesian authorities have warned of another catastrophe just days after a quake killed 268 people. Warning: Graphic.

Survivors of an Indonesian earthquake that killed at least 268 people appealed for food and water on Wednesday, as rescuers picked through devastated villages with hopes of finding anyone alive fading.

The calls for help came as authorities warned that debris from landslides caused by the strong quake near the town of Cianjur in West Java needed to be cleared ahead of heavy rains forecast in the coming weeks, threatening a second disaster.

Two days after the quake flattened their homes, residents were still trying to retrieve priceless belongings including family photos, religious books and marriage certificates.

A man sifts through the rubble of a collapsed house in Cugenang, Cianjur on November 23, 2022, following a 5.6-magnitude earthquake on November 21. Picture: AFP

A man clears rubble from a house in Cugenang, Cianjur following a 5.6-magnitude earthquake that killed at least 268 people. Picture: AFP

“Although some supplies have arrived, it is not enough. We got rice, instant noodles, mineral water but it’s not enough,” Mustafa, a 23-year-old resident of Gasol village, told AFP.

He had just dug through the rubble of an elderly neighbour’s house at her request, appearing from the destroyed facade carrying a pile of clothes before returning to collect rice, a gas stove, canisters and frying pans.

“We have no clothes and we have not changed for days, so I am digging through the rubble to find some clothes.”

Women cook beside the rubble of a collapsed house in Cugenang, Cianjur, following a 5.6-magnitude earthquake on November 21. Picture: AFP

The government has dispatched tents and other supplies to Cianjur for the displaced but another resident appealed to Jakarta to send more stocks because of shortages.

“My child has a fever and she can’t eat. There are many children and elderly people here. Children need milk, diapers, food and medicine,” said 30-year-old Yunisa Yuliani.

Indonesia is vulnerable to landslides and flash floods in the rainy season, which has already begun and peaks in December in West Java. Heavy thunderstorms are forecast for Cianjur in the weeks ahead.

Workers heavy equipments to remove soil following landslide triggered by a 5.6-magnitude earthquake near Cianjur. Picture: AFP

The country’s meteorology agency warned the town is prone to another catastrophe just days after homes were destroyed and loved ones buried by rubble.

“We have to be vigilant over a potential second disaster, such as a landslide,” Dwikorita Karnawati, head of the meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency told a press conference Tuesday.

“The urgent step is to control heaps of fallen material,” she said. The agency’s count of the tremor’s aftershocks has increased to 145, with magnitudes ranging from 1.2 to 4.2, Karnawati said.

TURKEY ROCKED BY EARTHQUAKE

A magnitude-6.1 earthquake struck northwest Turkey in the early hours of Wednesday local time, the US Geological Survey said.

The shallow tremor struck about 170 kilometres east of Istanbul, the country’s largest city, according to the USGS.

It gave a time of 4:08 am (12.08pm AEDT) and a depth of 10 km.

The USGS uses a “fixed depth” of 10 km when initial quake data is “too poor to compute”, according to its website.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu posted on Twitter that there was no information on loss of life.

Turkey is situated in one of the world’s most active earthquake zones.

A magnitude 6.8 quake hit Elazig in January 2020, killing more than 40 people. In November that year, a powerful 7.0 magnitude quake hit the Aegean Sea, killing 114 people and wounding more than 1,000.

QUAKES CAUSE DAMAGE ON SOLOMON ISLANDS

A strong 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the Solomon Islands on Tuesday, just one day after a deadly quake killed at least 268 lives in Indonesia.

The first earthquake to hit the Solomon Islands measured a magnitude of 7.0, which was followed by a second quake of 6.0 magnitude about half an hour later. Aftershocks have also been felt.

Authorities are conducting a damage assessment but there have been reports of damage to buildings, including power outages.

Damaged cars outside a building in Honiara. Picture: AFP.

A tsunami warning was issued for the Solomon coast by US Tsunami Warning alert, which has since been lifted, for waves up to 1metre above the tide level for parts of the Solomon Islands, and for waves up to 30cm above tide level for parts of Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.

Residents outside a building checking damage done by the earthquake in Honiara. Picture: AFP.

Eyewitnesses reported violent shaking that hurled televisions and other items to the ground earlier on Tuesday.

“This was a big one,” Joy Nisha, a receptionist with the Heritage Park Hotel in the capital Honiara, told AFP. “Some of the things in the hotel fell. Everyone seems OK, but panicky.”

An AFP reporter in the capital said the shaking lasted for around 20 seconds.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the roof of the Australian high commission annexe in Honiara has collapsed but all staff were safe.

A family leaves a hospital building in downtown of Honiara, as people rushed from their offices and fled to higher ground after a strong earthquake. Picture: AFP.

With communications in the region disrupted from the shocks, Mr Albanese said it was unclear if any Australians had been hurt in the earthquakes.

“[I have told] Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare that Australia stands ready to assist in the wake of the earthquake near Honiara,” he said.

I have conveyed Australia’s condolences to my friend President @jokowi on the loss of life from the earthquake in West Java.

I have also relayed to Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare that Australia stands ready to assist in the wake of the earthquake near Honiara. pic.twitter.com/ibvjcpFXmX

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) November 22, 2022

The USGS revised the earthquake’s magnitude down from an initial 7.3.

The earthquake struck at a relatively shallow depth of 10km, just off the southwest coast of Guadalcanal island.

Residents stay in the open in downtown of Honiara after the tremor. Picture: AFP.

According to UN data, about 20,000 people live within 50km of the epicentre.

The Solomons – a sprawling archipelago in the South Pacific – is home to about 800,000 people.

A boy pushes the wheelchair of a family member in downtown Honiara as they flee to higher ground. Picture: AFP.

JAVA DEATH TOLL EXCEEDS 250

The death toll from a 5.6-magnitude earthquake on Indonesia’s main island Java on Monday has left more than 252 people dead – many believed to be children, according to local authorities.

The quake was centred in the Cianjur region of West Java, according to the United States Geological Survey, and was felt as far away as the capital of Jakarta, where panicked residents rushed out of buildings onto the streets, several covered in blood and debris.

Rescuers carry a young girl after the earthquake hit Cianjur, Indonesia, 21 November 2022. Picture: EPA/ADI WEDA.

A woman walks past a damaged house following an earthquake in Cianjur on November 21, 2022. Picture: AFP.

Rescuers searched for survivors buried under rubble on Tuesday as relatives started to bury their loved ones. As body bags emerged from crumpled buildings, rescue efforts turned to the missing and any survivors still under debris in areas made hard to reach by the mass of obstacles thrown onto the town’s roads by the quake.

One of the dozens of rescuers, 34-year-old Dimas Reviansyah, said teams were using chainsaws and excavators to break through piles of felled trees and debris to reach areas where civilians were believed trapped.

“I haven’t slept at all since yesterday, but I must keep going because there are victims who have not been found,” he said.

Wounded people rest under a tent outside a hospital in Cianjur. Picture: AFP.

People evacuate a wounded woman on a stretcher following a landslide triggered by earthquake in Cianjur. Picture: AFP.

“Today our focus is to evacuate victims who were buried by the landslide,” Rudy Saladin, a local military chief, told AFP.

“There’s a possibility there are still more.” Indonesia’s national disaster mitigation agency, or BNPB, said at least 25 people were still buried under the rubble in Cianjur as darkness fell Monday.

Many of the dead were public school students who had finished their classes for the day and were taking extra lessons at several Islamic schools when they collapsed, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said as he announced the rising death toll in the remote, rural area.

Scores of people were taken to hospital, with many treated outside.

Rescuers were working into the night to try to save others thought to still be trapped under collapsed buildings.

“There are still many residents trapped at the incident sites, we assume that the injured and dead victims will continue to increase over time,” Mr Kamil said.

A man stands beside houses destroyed by the quake. Picture; AFP.

Wounded people in a tent displayed outside a hospital following an earthquake in Cianjur on November 21, 2022. Picture: AFP.

At least 56 people were killed in an earthquake that rattled Indonesia's main island of Java on November 21, 2022, the governor of the worst-hit province said. Picture: AFP.

At least 2345 homes and four schools have been damaged, according to the local office of the National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB).

A mosque and a hospital were also damaged, it added.

The agency said there is no risk of a tsunami.

Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency recorded at least 25 aftershocks within hours of the initial quake.

Adam, a spokesman for the local administration in Cianjur town, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP thousands of houses could have been damaged in the quake.

Broadcasters showed several buildings in Cianjur with their roofs collapsed and debris lining the streets.

Thousands of houses have been damaged in the quake. Picture: Twitter.

Herman Suherman, the head of administration in Cianjur town, said most injuries were bone fractures sustained from people being trapped by debris in buildings.

“The ambulances keep on coming from the villages to the hospital,” he told AFP earlier in the day.

“There are many families in villages that have not been evacuated.”

Relatives of victims congregated at the hospital.

Mr Suherman warned the death toll could rise because villagers outside the town may still be trapped.

A child walks out from inside a gate of a house damaged by an earthquake in Bernal district, Paktika. Picture: AFP.

People handle the body of a deceased after the earthquake at a hospital in Cimacan, Cianjur. Picture: AFP.

Wounded people rest under a tent outside a hospital in Cianjur. Picture: AFP.

“We are currently handling people who are in an emergency state in this hospital. The ambulances keep on coming from the villages to the hospital,” he said.

“There are many families in villages that have not been evacuated.”

Indonesia’s disaster chief Suharyanto, who also goes by one name, said at least 14 people had died in the Cianjur area but said information was “still developing”.

Roughly 175,000 people live in the town of Cianjur, part of a mountainous district of the same name with more than 2.5 million people, AP reports.

Known for their piety, the people of Cianjur live mostly in towns of one and two-storey buildings and in smaller homes in the surrounding countryside.

Cianjur police chief Doni Hermawan told Metro TV authorities had rescued a woman and a baby from a landslide but a third person they found had died of their injuries.

Earthquakes are common in Indonesia, which sits on the “ring of fire” area of tectonic activity in the Pacific.

The country has a history of devastating earthquakes and tsunamis, with more than 2000 killed in a 2018 Sulawesi quake.

The Australian Government has extended its “deepest condolences for the tragic loss of life in Indonesia and to all those who have been affected by this tragedy”.

“We stand ready to provide support as Indonesia responds and recovers,” a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said.

DFAT is not aware of any Australians impacted at this time.

Anyone with concerns for Australians can contact the Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135 in Australia or [phone] outside Australia.

– with AFP