Girl, 7, found dead as quake toll rises to 310 in Indonesia

CIANJUR, INDONESIA: A sevenyear-old Indonesian girl who was the subject of a day-long rescue effort after an earthquake killed at least 310 people in West Java has been found dead, rescuers told AFP on Friday.

Emergency workers found the body of Ashika Nur Fauziah, also known as Cika, under rubble in the worst-hit district of Cugenang, the epicentre of the quake that triggered landslides, collapsed buildings and buried victims in mounds of earth on Monday.

“The body was immediately handed over to the family,” 28-year-old rescuer Jeksen Kolibu told AFP. “The family... was very sad.”

Dozens of rescuers had spent most of Thursday using digging tools, hammers and their bare hands to clear debris in the delicate mission, which was suspended overnight. Cika was found under three layers of concrete on Friday morning, said Kolibu.

In devastated towns in western Java, residents gathered near badly damaged mosques for Friday prayers. Others held prayers along with rescuers between the tents at evacuation centres.

Bodies were recovered on Friday in two areas of mountainous Cianjur district where landslides triggered by Monday’s quake brought tons of mud, rocks and broken trees, said Henri Alfiandi, chief of the national search and rescue agency.

More than 1,400 rescuers have been searching through the rubble since the magnitude 5.6 quake, which injured more than 2,000 people. The head of the national disaster management agency, Suharyanto, who uses one name, said rescuers will continue searching until rebuilding begins.

“We will do it up to the last person. There is no reduction whatsoever, in strength, enthusiasm, or the equipment,” Suharyanto said.

He said distribution of food and other aid is improving and is reaching more people in 110 evacuation locations. The disaster agency said the earthquake damaged at least 56,000 houses and displaced at least 36,000 people.