Among the 268 dead after an earthquake devastated a city in Indonesia, there are children killed when their schools collapsed.
More than 1,000 people were injured and 58,000 displaced after the 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck the mountains of West Java on Monday, causing significant damage to the city of Cianjur and burying at least one village under a landslide .
At least 151 people remain missing, and authorities warn that the death toll is likely to rise further.
Around 22,000 houses were damaged.
Image: Image: AP
Landslides and rough terrain were hampering 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 Cianjur, south of Jakarta.
Blocked roads and damaged bridges prevented rescuers from bringing the bulldozers and heavy equipment needed to move the concrete rubble into the countryside 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 Gen. Dudung Abdurachman. Image: AP
“On behalf of myself and the government, I would like to express my condolences to the victims and their families of this Cianjur earthquake,” he said after visiting survivors in shelters at a soccer field.
“My instruction is to prioritize the evacuation of victims who are still trapped under the debris,” he added.
West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said on Monday: “Most of those who died were children.”
He added that many were public school students who had finished regular classes and were taking extra classes at Islamic schools.
Image: A man takes an injured child to a hospital for treatment. Image: Antara Photo/Reuters
The earthquake struck the Cianjur region in West Java province at a depth of 6.2 miles, according to the US Geological Survey.
Twenty-five aftershocks were recorded within two hours of the quake, according to the BMKG meteorology and geophysics agency.
Approximately 175,000 people live in the city of Cianjur, which is part of a mountainous district of the same name with more than 2.5 million people.
Image: Image: AP
Indonesia straddles 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 magnitude 6.2 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 were killed and nearly 6,500 injured in West Sulawesi province after a large earthquake of similar magnitude.