Massive 6.4 magnitude earthquake rocks capital city with ‘buildings swaying’

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake has rocked tourist hotspot Jakarta in Indonesia and left "buildings swaying".

By Tom Towers /

Residents have since been forced to evacuate buildings in the capital as tremors are felt across the island.

The quake occurred around 65 miles west of the city of Sukabumi at a depth of 21 miles.

One eyewitness in Sukabumi said: “I was lying on the floor and suddenly felt a tremor, everything was shaking for about a minute I think.

“People got out of houses and children cried.”

Indonesia earthquake TWITTER

DAMAGE: A roof collapses after the powerful quake hits Jakarta in Indonesia

Indonesia earthquake CSEM

EPICENTRE: The quake occurred around 65 miles west of the city of Sukabumi

The DEADLIEST earthquakes of all time

 
Earthquakes have struck terror into the heart of mankind since the dawn of time. These once inexplicable phenomena were interpreted by primitive civilisations as the anger of the gods. With death tolls of up to half a million people, it's not hard to see why. Warning: contains GRAPHIC IMAGES
1 / 18
Messina, Italy, 1908, 7.1 on the Richter scale. Between 75,000 and 200,000 lives were lost Roger Viollet/Getty Images
Messina, Italy, 1908, 7.1 on the Richter scale. Between 75,000 and 200,000 lives were lost

    Rudy Togatorop, who works in the Chilean embassy in Jakarta, wrote: “We felt the earthquake for three to five minutes.

    “I was just sitting down, then I felt the building swaying. The emergency stairs were very narrow.

    “I was worried if something would happen.”

    One Twitter user in the capital wrote: “Woah! Earthquake in Jakarta. The building is still swaying.”

    Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide and cause frequent seismic and volcanic activity.