Indonesia's W. Java jolted by multiple earthquakes, tsunami alert issued

JAKARTA, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian authorities have issued tsunami alert after multiple strong earthquakes jolted several regencies in West Java province's coastal cities late on Friday that killed two residents, damaged dozens of houses.

The initial earthquake measuring 4.5-magnitude occurred 48 km southwest of West Java city Sukabumi at 11:04 p.m. Western Indonesian Time (WIB), at a depth of 50 km, Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said.

The second earthquake with a huge scale of 7.3 occurred around 42 minutes later with epicenter at 74 km southwest of Kawalu, at a depth of 105 km in the province's Tasikmalaya regency.

The third earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 took place almost at the same time, also in Tasikmalaya with epicenter located in 11 km southwest of Tasikmalaya at a depth of 107 km, the agency reported.

The agency issued tsunami warning in three provinces of West Java, Central Java and Yogyakarta after the second earthquake took place and called it off two hours later.

Indonesia's Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said two people in West Java and Central Java province were killed in the earthquake events.

"Areas mostly affected the most by the earthquakes were Pangandaran, Tasikmalaya, Ciamis, Banjar, Garut, Cilacap, Kebumen, Pekalongan, Banyumas, Brebes and Banjarnegara," Sutopo said, naming the regencies in West and Central Java provinces hit the most by the disaster.

Sutopo added that the earthquakes left at least seven injured, collapsed and damaged more than 100 houses in the two provinces. Enditem