268 killed in Indonesian earthquake

JAKARTA. – Many of those killed and injured in a major earthquake on the Indonesian island of Java were children, rescuers say, as the death toll soars to 268 yesterday.

More than 1 000 people were wounded, officials say.

In its latest announcements on Tuesday, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency ( BNPB) added that 151 people were still missing.

It also said that 22,000 houses had been damaged, and that more than 58,000 people had taken shelter in several locations in the region.

The 5.6 magnitude quake struck a mountainous region on Monday, causing landslides that buried entire villages near the West Java town of Cianjur.

Victims were crushed or trapped after walls and roofs caved in. “It all happened so fast,” Aprizal told AFP news agency.

A representative of the National Search and Rescue Agency also confirmed that many of the dead were young people.

“Most of the casualties are children because at 1pm, they were still at school,” said Henri Alfiandi.

The earthquake, which struck at a shallow depth of 10km, was followed by dozens of aftershocks which caused more damage as poorly built homes collapsed. – BBC. com