Indonesian Rescue Workers Race to Find Survivors After Java Quake

Death toll is likely to rise as rescue efforts continue after Monday’s 5.6 magnitude earthquake in west of Java island.

Rescue workers in Indonesia are racing to reach people still trapped in rubble a day after an earthquake devastated a West Java town, killing and injuring hundreds of people as buildings collapsed.

Dedi Prasetyo, a police spokesman, told the Antara news agency on Tuesday that hundreds of police officers were joining rescue efforts in the town of Cianjur, closest to the epicentre of the the shallow 5.6-magnitude quake.

The town of 175,000 people is located in a mountainous area of West Java, Indonesia’s most densely-populated province.

“Today’s main task order for personnel is to focus on evacuating victims,” Prasetyo said.​​

The shallow temblor killed at least 268 people, many of them children, with 151 still missing, disaster relief officials said.

Disaster agency chief Suharyanto told reporters more than 1,000 people had been injured, 58,000 displaced, and 22,000 houses damaged.

Landslides and rough terrain hampered rescue efforts on Tuesday, said Henri Alfiandi, head of national search and rescue agency Basarnas.

“The challenge is the affected area is spread out… On top of that the roads in these villages are damaged,” Alfiandi told reporters.

Authorities were operating “under the assumption that the number of injured and death will rise with time,” West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said.

Some of the dead were students at an Islamic boarding school while others were killed in their own homes when roofs and walls fell in on them.

“The room collapsed and my legs were buried under the rubble. It all happened so fast,” 14-year-old student Aprizal Mulyadi said. He said was pulled to safety by his friend, Zulfikar, who later died after getting trapped under rubble.

“I was devastated to see him like that, but I could not help him because my legs and back were injured,” he said.

Disaster officials said they would focus their efforts on an area that was struck by a landslide triggered by the quake.

Television news channels showed footage of people digging brown earth by hand using hoes, sticks, crowbars and other tools.

Aljazeera /Shakirat Sadiq