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Quake shakes Indonesia's Java, students injured

Jan. 23, 2018 - 20:56 By AP

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- A moderately strong earthquake shook the Indonesian island of Java on Tuesday, damaging hundreds of homes and seriously injuring six students at a school where a roof collapsed.

According to the US Geological Survey, the magnitude 6.0 quake was centered off western Java at a depth of about 43 kilometers. The epicenter was about 153 kilometers southwest of Jakarta, the capital.

People gather as they evacuate from a building after a strong earthquake in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018. A moderately strong earthquake shook the Indonesian island of Java and the country's capital Jakarta on Tuesday. (AP-Yonhap)

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said in a statement that six high school students suffered serious injuries and two sustained minor injuries from falling roof tiles at their school in the Cianjur area of West Java. It said hundreds of homes were damaged as well as some mosques and hospitals.

The agency said it was still assessing the full extent of the damage.

Buildings in Jakarta swayed for 10 to 20 seconds and some ordered evacuations, sending streams of people into the streets.

TVOne television showed workers and shoppers running out of a mall in central Jakarta in panic.

Witnesses told TVOne that houses were damaged in coastal areas of West Java, where many people ran to higher ground, fearing a tsunami.

Indonesia's Department of Meteorology, Climate and Geophysics said the quake didn't have the potential to generate a tsunami and no warning was issued.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, straddles the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.