Indonesian Quake Toll Rises to 218
Hundreds of aftershocks, including two strong earthquakes, hit Indonesia’s Java and Bali islands Saturday as the death toll from high ocean waves triggered by a quake the previous day climbed to 218.
No immediate reports of casualties or damage from the latest tremors were available, meteorological officials said.
One of Saturday’s strong aftershocks registered a preliminary magnitude of 6.0, meteorological official Abdul Gafur said. A second measured 4.8, and more than 400 smaller aftershocks also hit the region, he said.
Friday’s pre-dawn quake had a surface-wave magnitude of 7.2, according to the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo. Surface-wave magnitude is based on an analysis of seismic waves that travel along the Earth’s surface.
The quake did not cause major damage itself, but it created 20-foot-high waves that crashed into sleeping coastal villages on Indonesia’s main island of Java.
Most of the victims were fish vendors in the coastal district of Pesanggrahan in Banyuwangi.
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