CIANJUR, Indonesia, Nov 22 (Reuters) – Children killed when their schools collapsed accounted for much of the 162 dead in an earthquake that devastated a town on Indonesia’s main island of Java, a an official said on Tuesday, as rescuers rushed to reach those trapped. in the rubble.
Hundreds of people were injured in Monday’s earthquake and authorities warned the death toll was likely to rise.
The shallow 5.6 magnitude earthquake hit the mountains of Indonesia’s most populous province, West Java, causing extensive damage to the city of Cianjur and burying at least one village under a landslide.
Landslides and rough terrain are hampering rescue efforts, said Henri Alfiandi, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas).
“The challenge is that the affected area is extensive… On top of that, the roads in these villages are damaged,” Alfiandi told a news conference, adding that more than 13,000 people had been evacuated.
“Most of the victims are children, because at 1 p.m. they were still in school,” he said, referring to the time the quake struck.
Many deaths are due to people trapped under collapsed buildings, officials said.
President Joko Widodo traveled to Cianjur on Tuesday to encourage rescuers.
“My instruction is to prioritize the evacuation of victims who are still trapped under the rubble,” said the president, known as Jokowi.
He offered his condolences to the victims and pledged emergency government support. Reconstruction should include earthquake-prone housing to protect against future disasters, he said.
Survivors gathered overnight in the parking lot of a hospital in Cianjur. Some of the injured were treated in tents, others were hooked up to IV drips on the sidewalk as medical workers stitched up patients under torchlight.
“Everything collapsed under me and I was crushed under this child,” Cucu, a 48-year-old resident, told Reuters.
“Two of my children survived, I dug them up… Two more I brought here, and one is still missing,” she said in tears.
Footage from Kompas TV showed people holding cardboard signs asking for food and shelter, with emergency supplies still appearing not to reach them.
Hundreds of police have been deployed to assist the rescue efforts, national police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo told Antara state news agency.
“The main task today for personnel is to focus on the evacuation of casualties,” he said.
‘SWEEPED’
West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said at least 162 people had been killed, many of them children, while the National Disaster Agency (BNPB) death toll stood at 103, with 31 missing.
Authorities were operating “on the assumption that the number of injured and dead will increase,” the governor said, with at least one village buried by landslides triggered by the quake.
The Cianjur police chief told Metro TV that 20 people had been evacuated from Cugenang district, most of whom had died, with residents reporting missing family members.
The area was affected by a landslide triggered by the earthquake which had blocked access to the area.
“At least six of my relatives are still missing, three adults and three children,” said Cugenang resident Zainuddin.
“If it was just an earthquake, only the houses would collapse, but it’s worse because of the landslide. In this residential area, there were eight houses, all of which were buried and washed away .”
Rescue efforts were complicated by power outages in some areas and more than 100 aftershocks.
Straddling what is known as the “Ring of Fire”, a very seismically active area where different plates of the earth’s crust meet, Indonesia has a history of devastating earthquakes.
In 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off the island of Sumatra in northern Indonesia triggered a tsunami that struck 14 countries, killing 226,000 people.
Reporting by Tommy Adriansyah and Ajeng Dinar Ulfina in Cianjur; and Gayatri Suroyo, Ananda Teresia, Fransiska Nangoy and Bernadette Christina Munthe in Jakarta; Written by Kate Lamb; Editing by Ed Davies and Stephen Coates
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