5.8-magnitude Earthquake Jolts Indonesia's Java Island

A villager looks at damaged houses following a 5.6-magnitude earthquake that killed at least 162 people in West Java in November. — AFP/File
A villager looks at damaged houses following a 5.6-magnitude earthquake that killed at least 162 people in West Java in November. — AFP/File
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5.8-magnitude Earthquake Jolts Indonesia's Java Island

A villager looks at damaged houses following a 5.6-magnitude earthquake that killed at least 162 people in West Java in November. — AFP/File
A villager looks at damaged houses following a 5.6-magnitude earthquake that killed at least 162 people in West Java in November. — AFP/File

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia's main island of Java on Thursday with no immediate reports of damage, less than a month after another quake in the same province killed more than 300 people.

The quake struck at 07:50 am local time (0050 GMT) around 15 kilometers from the town of Cianjur, epicenter of November's devastating tremor, the United States Geological Survey said.

It said there was a low likelihood of casualties or damage following the quake, which struck at a depth of 123 kilometers (76 miles), AFP reported.

No damage was immediately reported in Cianjur or Sukabumi, the city nearest the epicenter, local disaster mitigation agency officials said Thursday.

But schools were temporarily evacuated in Sukabumi, according to local TV.

"The epicenter of the earthquake is in Sukabumi, so it was only lightly felt in Cianjur. No reports of damage to houses or casualties," said Wawan Setawan, a disaster agency official in Cianjur told AFP.

"We have yet to receive reports of damage caused by the earthquake", Imran Wardhani, an official in Sukabumi, said soon after the tremor.

Last month, a shallow 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit Cianjur, triggering landslides and collapsing buildings, killing at least 334 people, injuring thousands and leaving tens of thousands more homeless.

Save the Children warned this week that evacuees faced a "ticking time bomb" of disease and infection due to poor living conditions. Thousands of cases of respiratory infections and hundreds of cases of diarrhea have been reported.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo is visiting the area on Thursday to distribute aid to affected residents.

The tremor that struck Cinajur on November 21 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.

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



Dozens of Migrants May Have Drowned En Route to Spain By Boat

This photo provided by Salvamento Maritimo shows migrants crowding a rubber dinghy, with baby in it who was born at sea, during a perilous crossing of Atlantic Ocean by migrants from Africa to reach the Canary Islands, Spain, on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (Salvamento Maritimo via AP)
This photo provided by Salvamento Maritimo shows migrants crowding a rubber dinghy, with baby in it who was born at sea, during a perilous crossing of Atlantic Ocean by migrants from Africa to reach the Canary Islands, Spain, on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (Salvamento Maritimo via AP)
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Dozens of Migrants May Have Drowned En Route to Spain By Boat

This photo provided by Salvamento Maritimo shows migrants crowding a rubber dinghy, with baby in it who was born at sea, during a perilous crossing of Atlantic Ocean by migrants from Africa to reach the Canary Islands, Spain, on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (Salvamento Maritimo via AP)
This photo provided by Salvamento Maritimo shows migrants crowding a rubber dinghy, with baby in it who was born at sea, during a perilous crossing of Atlantic Ocean by migrants from Africa to reach the Canary Islands, Spain, on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (Salvamento Maritimo via AP)

As many as 50 migrants attempting to reach Spain by boat from West Africa may have drowned, migrant rights group Walking Borders said on Thursday.
Moroccan authorities on Wednesday rescued 36 people from a boat that had departed from Mauritania on Jan. 2, the group based in Madrid and Navarra said, and had carried 86 migrants, including 66 Pakistanis.
A record 10,457 migrants, or 30 people a day, died trying to reach Spain in 2024, most while attempting to cross the Atlantic route from West African countries such as Mauritania and Senegal to the Canary islands, according to Walking Borders, Reuters said.
The rights group said it had alerted authorities from all countries involved six days ago about the missing boat.
Alarm Phone, an NGO that provides an emergency phone line for migrants lost at sea, said it had alerted Spain's maritime rescue service on Jan. 12.
The service said it did not have any information about the boat.
Citing the Walking Borders' post on social media platform X, the Canary Islands' regional leader Fernando Clavijo expressed his sorrow for the victims and urged Spain and Europe to act to prevent further tragedies.
"The Atlantic cannot continue to be the graveyard of Africa," Clavijo said on X. "They cannot continue to turn their backs on this humanitarian drama."
Walking Borders CEO Helena Maleno said on X that 44 of those who drowned were from Pakistan.
"They spent 13 days of anguish on the crossing without anyone coming to rescue them," she said.