EXPLAINER: Why was Indonesia's shallow quake so deadly?
A 5.6 magnitude earthquake left more than 160 dead and hundreds injured as buildings crumbled and terrified residents ran for their lives on Indonesia’s main island of Java
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A 5.6 magnitude earthquake left more than 160 dead and hundreds injured as buildings crumbled and terrified residents ran for their lives on Indonesia’s main island of Java.
Bodies continued to be pulled from the debris on Tuesday morning in the hardest-hit city of Cianjur, located in the country’s most densely populated province of West Java and some 217 kilometers (135 miles) south of the capital, Jakarta. A number of people are still missing.
While the magnitude would typically be expected to cause light damage to buildings and other structures, experts say proximity to fault lines, the shallowness of the quake and inadequate infrastructure that cannot withstand earthquakes all contributed to the damage.
Here's a closer look at the earthquake and some reasons why it caused so much devastation:
