The Indonesian main island of Java was rocked by an earthquake that killed at least 56 people and injured hundreds, according to local authorities.
The magnitude 5.6 quake occurred in the town of Cianjur in West Java at a depth of 10 km (six miles), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Videos on social media showed some buildings almost completely reduced to rubble and debris scattered on the streets.
Authorities are warning of possible aftershocks and say the death toll could still rise.
The area where the quake struck is densely populated, prone to landslides, and houses poorly built. Rescue workers tried to evacuate people from collapsed buildings and managed to save a woman and her baby, local sources say.
West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil confirmed to local media that 56 people had died and more than 700 were injured.
He said the number of injured and fatalities was likely to rise as “many people” were still trapped at the disaster site and an area was blocked by a landslide.
Earlier, Herman Suherman, the administrative head of the city of Cianjur, was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying that most of the injuries were broken bones because people had been trapped by building debris.
"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good: His love endures forever."
“The ambulances keep coming from the villages to the hospital,” he said. “There are many families in the villages who have not been evacuated.”
He said more medical staff were needed to treat the overwhelming number of patients, and that power was out in the region, leaving doctors at the main hospital unable to operate on patients.
Dozens of buildings were damaged in the Cianjur region, the National Disaster Management Agency said in a statement. They include a hospital and an Islamic boarding school.
The quake was also felt in the capital, Jakarta, about 100 km away, where people in high-rise buildings were evacuated.
Office workers hurriedly left buildings in the city and business district during the quake, which began at 1:21 p.m. Western Indonesian Time (WIT) Monday, the agency said.
“I was working when the ground shook under me. I could feel the quake. I tried not to do anything to process what it was, but it got stronger and lasted for some time,” lawyer Mayadita Waluyo told AFP.
An office worker named Ahmad Ridwan told the Reuters news agency, “We are used to the [earthquake] in Jakarta, but people were just so nervous that we also panicked.”
Earthquakes are common in Indonesia, which sits on the “ring of fire” of tectonic activity in the Pacific Ocean. The country is known for its devastating earthquakes and tsunamis. in 2018, a quake in Sulawesi killed more than 2,000 people.
