Earthquake death toll expected to rise
A SHALLOW 5.6-magnitude earthquake killed at least 62 people, with hundreds injured and others missing, when it toppled buildings and triggered landslides on Indonesia’s main island of Java yesterday, officials said.
Doctors treated patients outdoors after the quake, which was felt as far away as the capital Jakarta, left hospitals in the West Java town of Cianjur without power for several hours.
Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said 25 people remained trapped under the rubble as the rescue mission stretched into the night.
The agency increased the death toll from 56 and said more than 2 000 houses were damaged and 5 000 people were taken to evacuation centres.
“You can see it yourself, some got their heads, feet sewn outdoors. Some got stressed and started crying,” said West Java governor Ridwan Kamil.
Kamil said power had been partially restored by the evening, without specifying if that meant by generators or connection to a power grid.
The afternoon quake was centred in the Cianjur region and local authorities said as many as 700 had been wounded, warning the death toll could rise further.
Agus Azhari, 19, was with his elderly mother in the family home when the living room was destroyed within seconds, parts of the walls and roof collapsing around them.
“I pulled my mother’s hand, and we ran outside,” he said. “I heard people screaming for help from all around me.”
Most of the deaths were counted in one hospital, the head of Cianjur’s local administration, Herman Suherman, said earlier, with most of the victims killed in the ruins of collapsed buildings. He told Indonesian media the town’s Sayang hospital had no power after the quake, leaving doctors unable to operate on victims immediately. More health workers were urgently needed due to the overwhelming number of patients, he said.
Locals rushed victims to the hospital in pickup trucks and on motorbikes, according to footage obtained by AFP.
They were placed in front of the facility as residents spread a tarpaulin on the road for the bodies.
At another facility, Cimacan hospital, green tents were erected outside for makeshift treatment, according to a reporter at the scene.
Victims arrived covered in blood, while parents looked for their children.
Kamil, the governor, said multiple landslides had cut off road access to some areas and bulldozers were being used to reopen them. Shops, a hospital and an Islamic boarding school in the town were severely damaged.
Broadcasters showed several buildings in Cianjur with their roofs collapsed and debris lining the streets. The town is in a hilly area where many houses are built with a mixture of mud and concrete.
Indonesia’s meteorological agency said it recorded 62 aftershocks in Cianjur after the quake, with magnitudes ranging from 1.8 to 4.
There were no reports of casualties or major damage in Jakarta, a threehour drive away.