While the magnitude would typically be expected to cause light damage, experts say proximity to fault lines, the shallowness of the quake and inadequate infrastructure that cannot withstand quakes all contributed to the damage.
Enjot, 45, who lost his house and few relatives, walks past the rubble of a building collapsed in Monday's earthquake in Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022. Rescuers on Tuesday struggled to find more bodies from the rubble of homes and buildings toppled by an earthquake that killed a number of people and injured hundreds on Indonesia's main island of Java.
Quakes of this size usually don't cause widespread damage to well-built infrastructure. But the agency points out, “There is not one magnitude above which damage will occur. It depends on other variables, such as the distance from the earthquake, what type of soil you are on, building construction” and other factors.
Many buildings in the region are also not built with quake-proof designs, which further contributed to the damage, said Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, an earthquake geology expert at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences Geotechnology Research Center.DOES INDONESIA USUALLY HAVE EARTHQUAKES LIKE THIS?
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