Six Houses Damaged In East Java Quake

JEMBER, E. Java, Nov 18 (Antara) - Six houses in Jember district, East Java, were damaged after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit the province's southern part on Wednesday night. "The earthquake, which was centered 127 kilometers southeast of Malang district was strongly felt in Jember district and caused major and minor damage to six houses in several sub-districts," head of the emergency and logistics section at the Jember district disaster mitigation board (BPBD) Heru Widagdo said here Thursday. Most of the houses which were damaged due to the earthquake were located in the district's southern coastal sub-districts of Puger, Gumukmas, and Mayang, he said. Two houses were seriously damaged in Puger sub-district, three houses in Gumukmas sub-district with total material losses of Rp20 million, and one house suffered material loss of Rp5 million, he said. He made it clear that the BPBD has continued to gather data on the number of victims. The earthquake was located 9.32 degrees southern latitude and 113.12 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 69 kilometers, and did not have the potential to cause a tsunami, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (MKG) said earlier. The earthquake was categorized as a strong quake. The impact of the earthquake was felt by people in Malang, Yogyakarta, Lumajang, and Jember, according to the agency's shake map. There was no immediate report of casualties.