On Indonesia's heavily populated main island, a violent, shallow earthquake on Monday demolished houses and walls, killing at least 162 people and injuring hundreds more as inhabitants ran into the street, some covered in blood and debris. The number of people injured and killed by the earthquake in the rural location was being tallied by officials.
Ridwan Kamil, the governor of West Java, posted on Instagram that 162 people had died and 326 had been hurt. He noted that "the majority of those who died were children."
Many of them were pupils from public schools who had completed their daily coursework and were attending Islamic schools for after-school instruction, he claimed.
Many of them were pupils from public schools who had completed their daily coursework and were attending Islamic schools for after-school instruction, he claimed. A lot of mosques and Islamic boarding schools can be found in Cianjur. Numerous incidences happened at other Islamic schools, he claimed.
He claimed that more than 13,000 individuals were being transported to evacuation centers from homes that had sustained significant damage. In the Cianjur district, roughly three hours drive from Java's capital, emergency personnel provided first aid to the injured while they were being treated on stretchers and blankets outside hospitals, on terraces, and in parking lots.
Children among the injured were receiving oxygen masks, IV lines, and resuscitation techniques.
“I passed out.” Hasan, a construction worker who goes by one name like many Indonesians, said, "It was really strong. I observed my buddies scurrying out of the building. I tried to exit, but it was too late, and I was struck by the wall.” After the magnitude 5. 6 earthquakes, which occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers and rattled the area in West Java province late in the afternoon, residents fled their damaged homes while some were crying and clutching children.
High-rises trembled and several individuals fled as a result of the panic it also produced in the larger Jakarta area. People buried in fallen brick homes in Cianjur were being sought after by rescue teams and locals.
Roof tiles and pieces of concrete have fallen into beds in numerous homes. When the earthquake struck, shopkeeper Dewi Risma was interacting with customers and immediately ran for safety. The tremor was "extremely intense," she recalled, "and the cars on the road halted." "I experienced three shakings, the first of which lasted for around 10 seconds and was the greatest. Two persons were reportedly injured when the roof of the store next to mine fell.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency reported that 62 people had died and hundreds had been hurt. Over 5,000 individuals are currently being evacuated.
According to agency spokesman Abdul Muhari, 25 residents of Cijedil hamlet were still trapped under the rubble. More than 5,300 individuals had to be relocated, according to the BNPB, and more than 2,200 homes had been destroyed.
Due to the large number of people trapped under the debris of demolished buildings, Cianjur police warned that the number of fatalities was likely to rise. According to authorities, communications were hampered by a power outage, and some areas were blocked from evacuation due to landslides.
Roads near the Cianjur district were closed due to several landslides. An Islamic boarding school, a hospital, and other public buildings were among the dozens of structures that were harmed, the agency claimed.
According to Kamil, information was still being gathered by the regional administration, the national police, and the Indonesian military. He reported 88 aftershocks, and the weather agency BMKG issued a warning about more landslides in the event of heavy rain.
The so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire," where various plates of the Earth's crust collide and produce a lot of earthquakes and volcanoes, crosses Indonesia. A tsunami that slammed 14 countries and killed 2,26,000 people along the Indian Ocean coast in 2004 was brought on by a 9.1 magnitude earthquake that occurred off the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra.
