Magnitude 5.9 earthquake shakes West Java, buildings tremble in Jakarta

A strong earthquake has struck Sukabumi in West Java, Indonesia, the US Geological Survey (USG) reports. Tremors have reportedly been felt in the capital Jakarta, causing buildings to shake.

The quake struck  96 kilometers southwest of the city of Sukabumi in Western Java after 6 pm local time at a depth of 67.2 km, the USG reports."The quake was quite strong but we have no reports yet of casualties or damage. We will monitor the affected area," National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told AFP.The earthquake could be felt in the capital Jakarta, which is located 80 km north of Sukabumi. It was apparently strong enough to shake large buildings in the capital. No tsunami warning has thus far been issued.  The Indonesian Meteorological and Geophysics Agency had previously reported the quake had a magnitude of 6.1 and had struck at a depth of 24 km.A series of earthquakes ranging from 5.2 to 5.7 in magnitude rocked parts of Indonesia on April 21. Although no tsunami warning was issued the tremors caused widespread panic.Earlier that month, a massive 8.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the west coast of the country, triggering an Indian Ocean tsunami that generated massive alarm, but caused very little actual damage.The April 11 tsunami alert was frighteningly reminiscent of the massive 2004 earthquake-triggered tsunami that killed nearly 230,000 people, most of them in Indonesia.The country registers 6,000-7,000 earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.0 or above annually, but many believe that the government does not have the necessary measures in place to react effectively to a large quake.Authorities have proposed to build vertical safety shelters in tsunami-prone areas.