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Four die in Banten earthquake, two of them due to panic, exhaustion
Banten, which has barely recovered from last year's fatal Sunda Strait tsunami that killed hundreds of people, was hit was an earthquake on Friday.
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A resident gathers what remains from her shattered home in Pandeglang, Banten, on Saturday, after a 6.9-magnitude earthquake rocked the western coast of Banten. (Antara/Asep Fathulrahman)
V
icky Wijaya, a 23-year-old engineer, was on a bus heading to downtown Cilegon, Banten, from his workplace, a plant in the province's coastal area of Anyer, on Friday evening when he saw through the window people running out of buildings and homes to a jammed street.
Panic was seen on their faces, he said, and his bus came to a halt for a few minutes.
That was when he realized what was going on. He felt the bus shaking, as if he was "riding an 'odong-odong'", referring to an amusement park ride popular among children.
"That was the third time I experienced a quake. The previous two I experienced in Bandung [West Java] weren't as strong," he told The Jakarta Post via phone on Saturday.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) first reported that it was 7.4-magnitude earthquake, but later corrected it to 6.9 magnitude hours later. The latest figure is closer to an estimation announced by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) at 6.8 magnitude.
The epicenter of the quake, which hit at 7 p.m., was 147 kilometers southwest off the coast of Sumur, Banten, at a depth of 10 km. A tsunami warning was issued and lifted two hours later after there were no reports of rising sea waters.
Vicky said getting back to his dormitory, about 25 km away from Anyer, took longer than usual as vehicles jammed the streets, possibly trying to avoid the coastal areas.
