Earthquake rattles Indonesian capital

A powerful earthquake rattled Indonesia’s capital early today, violently shaking tall buildings and sending panicked residents fleeing into the streets with young children.

The 7.5-magnitude tremor caused no damage and did not trigger a tsunami, probably because of its depth, 180 miles beneath the Java Sea, geophysicists said.

It was centred 65 miles east of Jakarta and struck just after midnight local time, the US Geological Survey said.

Residents said tall buildings and single-storey homes shook violently, and water sloshed from swimming pools. Some people, awoken by the power of the quake, navigated the stairwells of their apartment buildings carrying babies and sleepy children. Others screamed “Allah Akbar,” or “God is great,” as they ran outside.

The jolt could be felt from Indonesia’s westernmost island of Sumatra to Bali in the east, local officials said.

It was also felt in parts of Malaysia, said Don Blakeman, a geophysicist at the USGS National Earthquake Information Centre in Golden, Colorado.

Geophysicists almost immediately ruled out the possibility of a tsunami.