The death toll from the earthquake has risen to 268
In Indonesia, after the devastating earthquake rescuers are working for a second night to try to find three survivors in West Java. Authorities put the death toll at 268, most of them children, while 151 are still missing and more than 1,000 injured. Damaged roads and large affected areas make it difficult to find and help victims.
Aprizal Mulyadi was at school when the earthquake struck and was trapped when “the building collapsed”. The 14-year-old boy said his feet were “buried in the rubble” but was brought to safety by his friend Zulfikar, who later died after being trapped.
The country’s Disaster Management Department said that 22,000 houses have been destroyed and more than 58,000 people have been replaced in many places in the region. The 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit the northern region on Monday, causing landslides that buried entire villages near the city of Cianjur in West Java.
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Victims are crushed or trapped when walls and roofs collapse. “Everything happened very quickly,” Aprizal told the AFP news agency. A spokesperson of the National Search and Rescue Agency confirmed that most of the dead were young people. “Most of the victims were children because at 1 o’clock in the morning they were still at school,” said Henri Alfindi.
The earthquake, which struck at a depth of 10 kilometers (six miles), followed several aftershocks that caused more damage than poorly constructed buildings. In the town of Cibereum, a family is trying to recover the body of their eldest son – a 28-year-old man who was crushed when another level of the building collapsed on him.
Rescuers struggled to clear the wreckage. “We had to dig into the cement on the second floor where the person fell. But we found a body,” Sergeant Payakun, a soldier, told the BBC. Cucu, 48, told Reuters news agency that he survived being crushed under a child.
“My two children are alive, I dug them out… I brought two more here, one is missing,” he said with tears in his eyes. “Many bodies are lying in the hospital yard, there are many people,” said his relative, Hesti. In one area, victims used cardboard to beg for food and shelter.
President Joko Widodo visited a remote disaster area on Tuesday where he was photographed with responders. “My direction is to give priority to the evacuation of victims who are still trapped under the rubble,” he said.
Hundreds of police and other rescue workers are assisting in the rescue operation. Mr. Jokowi promised to compensate the affected communities.
Save the Children said at least 80 schools were damaged.
“Children are scared and we need to get them food, water and shelter and make sure they are not at risk of being separated from their parents and carers,” a spokesperson said.
Earthquakes are common in Indonesia, which sits on the tectonically active “Ring of Fire” region in the Pacific.
