Strong Quake Hits Indonesia, dozens killed

At least 42 people have been killed, 40 others have gone missing and more than 400 others were wounded after a 7.3 magnitude quake hit West Java of Indonesia on Wednesday, The National Disaster Management Agency said here.

Photo: Strong Quake Hits Indonesia, dozens killed

"The death toll now climbs to 42," an official of the disaster management agency Iwan Setiawan told Xinhua.

Head of the crisis center of the Health Ministry Rustam Pakaya told Xinhua that the number of people wounded was 422, some of them suffering from serious injury.

The quake struck shortly before 3 p.m. (4 a.m. ET). Its epicenter was located offshore about 190 kilometers (120 miles) southeast of Jakarta, according the U.S. Geological Survey. The center was about 50 kilometers (31 miles) deep. A tsunami watch went into effect but quickly expired.

The brunt of the temblor struck the West Java province, including Cianjur, located about 80 kilometers (50 miles) southeast of Jakarta. The quake also damaged buildings and cut off electricity to Tasikmalaya, a mountainous city about 115 kilometers (70 miles) northeast of the epicenter, according to a witness named Maya. Residents panicked when the quake struck, running into the streets where they stayed hours later -- fearing an aftershock, CNN informs.

"The earthquake was shaking everything in my house very strongly for almost a minute," Heni Maryani, a resident in the town of Sukabumi told el Shinta radio. "I grabbed my children and ran out. I saw people were in panic. Women were screaming, and children were crying."

Hospitals quickly filled with scores of injured people after the quake struck just off the southern coast of Java, where most of Indonesia's 235 million people live, The Associated Press reports.