Children killed when their schools collapsed are among 268 dead after an earthquake devastated a city in Indonesia.
More than 1,000 people were injured and 58,000 displaced after the 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit the mountains of West Java on Monday, causing significant damage to the town of Sianjur and burying at least one village under a landslide.
At least 151 people remain missing, with authorities warning that the death toll is likely to rise.
About 22,000 houses were damaged.
Image: Photo: AP
Landslides and rough terrain hampered rescue efforts, said Henri Alfiandi, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas).
Excavators, trucks and other heavy equipment were sent overnight to the worst-hit city of Sianjur, south of Jakarta.
Blocked roads and damaged bridges prevented rescuers from bringing in excavators and heavy equipment needed to move concrete debris into the rural area until Tuesday.
President Joko Widodo traveled to a village in Cianjur on Tuesday to comfort residents and encourage rescuers in their efforts to find more people.
Image: Indonesian President Joko Widodo walks with Army Chief of Staff General Dudung Abdurahman. Photo: AP
“On my own behalf and on behalf of the government, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the victims and their families of this Qianjur earthquake,” he said after visiting survivors in shelters at a soccer field.
“My instructions are to give priority to the evacuation of the victims who are still trapped under the rubble,” he added.
West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said on Monday: “Most of the dead are children.
He added that many of them are public school students who have completed their regular classes and are taking extra lessons in Islamic schools.
Image: A man carries an injured child to a hospital for treatment. Photo: Antara Foto/Reuters
The earthquake struck the Cianjur district in West Java province at a depth of 6.2 miles, according to the US Geological Survey.
Twenty-five aftershocks were recorded in the two hours after the quake, according to the Meteorological and Geophysical Agency BMKG.
Approximately 175,000 people live in the city of Cianjur, part of a mountainous region of the same name with more than 2.5 million people.
Image: Photo: AP
Indonesia is located in the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a highly seismically active area where different plates of the Earth’s crust meet and create many of the world’s earthquakes.
In February, a 6.2-magnitude earthquake killed at least 25 people and injured more than 460 in West Sumatra province. Tremors were felt as far away as Malaysia and Singapore.
In January 2021, at least 105 people died and nearly 6,500 were injured in West Sulawesi province after a large earthquake of similar magnitude.
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