A major earthquake jolted the Indonesian island of Java on Wednesday, triggering landslides that buried homes in this small city near the epicenter. Deustche Bank employees exit their building in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Wednesday after a major 7.0 earthquake.

Deustche Bank employees exit their building in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Wednesday after a major 7.0 earthquake.

At least 25 people have been killed and another 50 are feared dead -- possibly buried under the rubble -- according to Indonesia's National Disaster Coordination Agency.

"The extent of the damage is pretty spread out, because this powerful earthquake was felt from the west coast of Java all the way to the east coast," said CNN producer Andy Saputra, who felt the 7.0-magnitude temblor in the capital city.

The quake struck shortly before 3 p.m. (4 a.m. ET), rocking high-rise buildings in the capital city, which prompted a mass evacuation in Jakarta's central business district.

"I was on the 13th floor of our office building, and you know we could feel the building (shake) from left to right," Saputra said. "We all ran to the fire escape and escaped from there."

Buildings in other areas of West Java were reduced to rubble.

The quake's epicenter was located offshore about 190 kilometers (120 miles) southeast of Jakarta, according the U.S. Geological Survey. The center was about 50 km (31 miles) deep. A tsunami watch went into effect but quickly expired.
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The quake damaged buildings and cut off electricity to Tasikmalaya, a mountainous city in West Java about 115 kilometers (70 miles) northeast of the epicenter, according to a witness named Maya. Residents panicked when the quake struck, running into the streets.

"People are still outside of their houses (in Tasikmalaya), the electricity is still on and off, so people are still cautious," Saputra said, citing eyewitness accounts from there.

Beth Kolko was on the 13th floor of an office building in Jakarta when she felt the quake.

"It seemed pretty mild at first," said Kolko, a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. "Then it got very intense, very quickly."

The building began to swing "pretty hard," triggering panic and sending people crowding into the stairwell, she said.

"I stayed in the office up against the wall ... trying to decide whether to make a run for the stairwell or wait it out, and I waited it out," she said. Video Watch him describe the evacuation after the quake hit »

But when the swaying didn't stop, she said, she decided to make a run for it.

"A lot of people were streaming down, you could hear people praying," she said.

Indonesia is no stranger to major earthquakes. It is located on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
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In 2004, an earthquake measuring at least 9.0 in magnitude struck off the coast of the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island, triggering a major tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed more than 200,000 people in 11 countries.

About three weeks ago, a series of earthquakes -- ranging in magnitude from 4.7 to 6.7 -- struck off the western coast of Sumatra. At least seven people were injured and one building collapsed.

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/02/indonesia.earthquake/