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A powerful earthquake has killed more than 160 people in Indonesia's West Java province, with rescuers searching for survivors trapped under the rubble amid a series of aftershocks.

The epicentre of the 5.6 magnitude quake was near the town of Cianjur in mountainous West Java, about 75km southeast of the capital Jakarta.

The region is home to more than 2.5 million people.

West Java governor Ridwan Kamil said on Instagram that 162 people had been killed and 326 were injured.

Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) still placed the death toll at 62 and rescuers were searching for 25 believed to be trapped under rubble and its spokesperson said the search would continue through the night.

Ridwan told reporters that given many buildings have collapsed, the death toll could rise.

"So many buildings crumbled and shattered," he said.

"There are residents trapped in isolated places... so we are under the assumption that the number of injured and deaths will rise with time."

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.

The BNPB said more than 2200 houses had been damaged and more than 5300 people had been displaced.

Ridwan put that number at 13,000 and said they would be spread out at various centres across Cianjur.

Electricity was down, disrupting communications, authorities said, while landslides were blocking evacuations in some areas.

Hundreds of victims were being treated in a hospital parking lot, some under an emergency tent.

Elsewhere in Cianjur, residents huddled together on mats in open fields or in tents while buildings around them had been reduced to rubble.

Ambulance were still arriving at the hospital late into the night, bringing more people to the hospital.

Officials were still working to determine the full extent of the damage caused by the quake, which struck at a relatively shallow depth of 10km, according to the weather and geophysics agency (BMKG).

Vani, who was being treated at Cianjur main hospital, told MetroTV that the walls of her house collapsed during an aftershock.

"The walls and wardrobe just fell... Everything was flattened, I don't even know the whereabouts of my mother and father," she said.

Ridwan said 88 aftershocks were recorded while weather agency BMKG warned of more landslides in the event of heavy rain.

Cucu, 48, was searching for one of her seven children.

"The children were downstairs and I was upstairs getting laundry. Everything collapsed beneath me... One of my kids is still missing," she said.

In Jakarta, some people left offices in the central business district, while others reported buildings shaking and furniture moving, Reuters witnesses said.

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.

© RAW 2022

Indonesian rescue workers are racing to reach people still trapped in rubble after an earthquake devastated a West Java town, killing at least 162 people and injuring hundreds, as officials warned the death toll may rise.

The epicentre of the shallow 5.6-magnitude quake on Monday was close to the town of Cianjur in a mountainous area of Indonesia's most populous province. The tremor on Monday afternoon prompted panicked residents to flee onto the streets as buildings collapsed.

Overnight a hospital parking lot in Cianjur was inundated with victims, some treated in makeshift tents, others hooked up to intravenous drips on the pavement, while medical workers stitched up patients under the light of torches.

On Tuesday morning, hundreds of police officers had been deployed to assist in rescue efforts, Dedi Prasetyo, national police spokesman told the Antara state news agency.

"Today's main task order for personnel is to focus on evacuating victims," he said.

At least 162 people were killed in Monday's quake, many of them children, with more than 300 injured, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said, warning some residents remained trapped in isolated places.

Authorities were operating "under the assumption that the number of injured and death will rise with time", he said.

The national disaster agency (BNPB) said it had confirmed the deaths of 62 people, but had not verified 100 additional victims.

On Tuesday, officials were working to reach the area of Cugenang, which had been blocked off by a landslide.

Rescue efforts were complicated by electricity outages in some areas, and more than 80 aftershocks.

The earthquake, which was felt strongly in the capital Jakarta, some 75 kilometres away, damaged at least 2200 homes and displaced more than 5000 people, the BNPB said.

Straddling the so-called Ring of Fire a highly seismically-active zone where different plates on Earth's crust meet, Indonesia has a history of devastating earthquakes.

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.

© RAW 2022

Banks have been urged to implement increased protections on joint accounts in a bid to crack down on financial abuse.

A new report by the Centre for Women's Economic Safety has called on the banks to make the changes so it is more difficult for products such as joint accounts, credit cards and mortgages to be used as a coercive control measure.

The report said measures such as setting up joint accounts with separate passwords and logins were a way to ensure the accounts could not be used as a form of abuse towards women should relationships break down.

The centre's chief executive Rebecca Glenn said the changes would help stop joint financial products from being weaponised.

"Currently, banking products are designed in a way that assumes all relationships are healthy and equal but the reality is that financial abuse is rife in Australia," she said.

"Banking products can and should be re-designed so that couples who set up joint accounts have protections in place from the beginning."

The report said financial products were able to be used as a form of abuse towards women, such as withdrawing all funds from a joint account, instant receipts being used to stalk victims or abusive messages being sent through payment descriptions.

According to the report, it's estimated mothers who separate from violent partners have a 34 per cent drop in their income.

Financial Counselling Australia chief executive Fiona Guthrie said women were twice as likely to experience financial abuse than men.

"Financial coercion can stop women from leaving their abusive partner. It strips them of their financial autonomy and can wreck their credit score and leave them mired in debt," she said.

"It's essential that banks have safeguards in place to protect people against economic abuse and the crippling impact it has on their health and wellbeing, and that of their children."

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth welcomed the report and called on banks to improve measures to prevent financial coercion.

"Women should not have to choose between their financial security or their safety," she said.

"Perpetrators should not be enabled by systems that exacerbate their abuse."

The report was released ahead of International Economic Abuse Awareness Day on Saturday.

© AAP 2022