No major damage has been reported as of yet after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Indonesia’s main island

On Friday, areas of Indonesia’s largest island, Java, experienced a significant earthquake that caused alarm but no early reports of major injuries or fatalities.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the magnitude 5.8 earthquake had a centre at a depth of 86 kilometres (53.4 miles), 84 kilometres (52 miles) southwest of Bambanglipuro, a hamlet in Bantul regency of Yogyakarta province.

Locals in the Yogyakarta special province and its neighbouring provinces of Central Java and East Java were shown on television terrified as homes and other structures shook for a few seconds. In several instances, evacuation orders resulted in large-scale street flooding.

There was no tsunami threat, but Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency issued a warning about potential aftershocks. The organisation obtained an initial magnitude of 6.4. Early earthquake estimations often vary.

Yogyakarta is a historic Javanese cultural hub and the location of many old royal dynasties. It is home to Mount Merapi, the nation’s most active volcano, as well as the towering Hindu temple complex of Prambanan and the 9th-century Borobudur, which is comprised of nine stone layers piled like a wedding cake and covered with hundreds of Buddha statues and relief panels. Both are UNESCO World Heritage sites.

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Yogyakarta in 2006 resulted in more than 6,200 fatalities and 130,000 injuries, yet it only slightly damaged the two temples.

The nation’s population of more than 270 million is regularly affected by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis as a result of its placement on the “Ring of Fire,” a chain of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

In 2004, a tsunami caused by a devastating earthquake in the Indian Ocean killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen different nations, the most of them in Indonesia’s Aceh region.