Earthquake shakes Indonesia's West Java again, injuring one

A strong earthquake has hit Indonesia's main island of Java, injuring at least one person and shaking the same town devastated by a tremor last month that left more than 330 people dead.

The 5.7-magnitude quake struck on land at a depth of 112 kilometres (70 miles), with the epicentre located 18 km southeast of the West Java city of Banjar, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Indonesia's meteorological agency, known as BMKG, gave a higher magnitude of 6.4 for the quake, which shook buildings in the capital Jakarta.

At least one person was injured and was taken to hospital, the country's national disaster mitigation chief Suharyanto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told broadcaster Metro TV

Authorities in Garut, a town some 50 km (30 mi) from the epicentre, said they were making checks.

Some residents of Bandung, West Java's province capital, said on social media they felt strong tremors.

READ MORE: Why was Indonesia's shallow quake so deadly?

Weak infrastructure

Last month a shallow quake with a magnitude of 5.6 hit West Java's Cianjur, killing 331.

Most of the victims of November's earthquake were killed as buildings collapsed or landslides were triggered.

The quake damaged more than 62,000 houses and forced more than 73,000 people to evacuate to at least 325 shelters, the country's disaster mitigation agency chief Suharyanto said.

Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide.

November's tremor was the deadliest in the archipelago nation since a 2018 quake and resulting tsunami killed more than 4,000 people on the island of Sulawesi.

READ MORE: Death toll from Indonesia earthquake soars over 300