Pakistan sends condolences as Indonesia quake kills more than 160

Medical workers treat the victims outside the district hospital after earthquake hit in Cianjur, West Java province, Indonesia, November 21, 2022, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (Antara Foto via Reuters)
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  • Governor of worst-hit province says death toll from earthquake on main Java island had jumped to 162
  • In 2004, a quake off Sumatra island triggered a tsunami that struck 14 countries, killing 226,000 people

Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday condoled with the government and people of Indonesia as a 5.6-magnitude earthquake killed more than 160 people and injured hundreds in the country's West Java province.

The governor of the worst-hit province and a local official said the death toll from an earthquake on Indonesia’s main island of Java on Monday had jumped to 162.

"Tragic news of the earthquake and resultant loss of precious lives in Indonesia," the Pakistani foreign minister said on Twitter.

"Our heartfelt condolences and prayers for our Indonesian brothers and sisters, especially families of the victims."

Indonesia straddles the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire", a highly seismically active zone, where different plates on the Earth's crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.

In 2004, a 9.1 magnitude quake off Sumatra island in northern Indonesia triggered a tsunami that struck 14 countries, killing 226,000 people along the Indian Ocean coastline, more than half of them in Indonesia.