Java: Rescuers on Tuesday struggled to find more bodies from the rubble of homes and buildings toppled by an Earthquake which killed at least 162 people and injured hundreds on Indonesia’s Island of Java.
The 5.6 magnitude earthquake on Monday struck Cianjur a town in West Java, at a shallow depth of ten (10) kilometers (6 miles), according to the United States Geological Survey data.
Emergency rescuers have been working throughout the night to save other people who are still trapped under collapsed buildings.
In a statement, the regional Governor Ridwan Kamil said that at least three hundred twenty-six (326) people have been injured in the earthquake, clarifying that most of them sustained fractures from being crushed in ruins.
Notably, the exact number of people killed so far remains unclear. The Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency-BNPB said the official death toll was sixty-two (62), adding that another figure given by the Regional Governor Kamil one hundred sixty-two (162) remains unverified.
But he on the other hand warned some residents remained trapped in isolated places and stated that the officials were under the assumption that the number of people who are injured and deaths will rise with time.
Kamil added that more than thirteen thousand (13,000) people were displaced by the quake, and the BNPB said that more than two thousand two hundred (2,200) homes were damaged.
The head of administration in Cianjur town Herman Suherman said that most of the injuries were bone fractures sustained from people being trapped by debris in buildings.
Those who were injured were treated outside in a hospital car park after the hospital was left without power for several hours following the incident, West Java’s governor said in a statement.
On his Twitter handle on Monday night, Ridwan Kamil wrote that it could take up to three (3) days for power to be fully restored to the area. He also added that mobile phone reception remained low and was causing a lot of challenges for the officials.
Follow us on Twitter at Switch Media Kenya.
The tremor was also felt in the Capital Jakarta about one hundred (100) Kilometres away, where people were evacuated from High-rise Buildings.
The Disaster Agency said those office workers made quick movements out of buildings in the Civic and Business District during the tremor, which started at 13:21 Western Indonesian Time on Monday, November 21.
“I was working when the floor under me was shaking. I could feel the tremor clearly, hence I tried to do nothing to process what it was, but it became even stronger and lasted for some time,” Lawyer Mayadita Waluyo explained to Agence France Presse-AFP.
Read Also:Storm Hurricane Nicole hits Florida at Warning Speed
Further, earthquakes are very common in Indonesia, which sits on the ring of fire area of tectonic activity in the Pacific. The Country has a history of devastating earthquakes and tsunamis, with at least two thousand (2,000) people killed in a 2018 Sulawesi earthquake.
