CIANJUR, Indonesia, Nov 22 (Reuters) – Children killed when their faculties collapsed accounted for lots of the 162 dead in an earthquake that devastated a city on Indonesia’s predominant island of Java, an official mentioned on Tuesday, as rescuers raced to succeed in individuals trapped in rubble.

Hundreds of individuals had been injured in the Monday quake and officers warned the demise toll was more likely to rise.

The shallow 5.6-magnitude quake struck in mountains in Indonesia’s most populous province of West Java, inflicting important injury to the city of Cianjur and burying at least one village below a landslide.

Landslides and tough terrain had been hampering rescue efforts, mentioned 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 advised a information convention, including that greater than 13,000 individuals had been evacuated.

“Most of the casualties are children, because at 1 p.m. they were still at school,” he mentioned, referring to the time the quake hit.

Many of the fatalities resulted from individuals trapped below collapsed buildings, officers mentioned.

President Joko Widodo flew in to Cianjur on Tuesday to encourage rescuers.

“My instruction is to prioritise evacuating victims that are still trapped under rubble,” mentioned the president, who is named Jokowi.

He provided his condolences to the victims and pledged emergency authorities assist. Reconstruction ought to embrace earthquake-prone housing to guard towards future disasters, he mentioned.

Survivors gathered in a single day in a Cianjur hospital car parking zone. Some of the injured had been handled in tents, others had been hooked as much as intravenous drips on the pavement as medical employees stitched up sufferers below torch gentle.

“Everything collapsed beneath me and I was crushed beneath this child,” Cucu, a 48-year-old resident, advised Reuters.

“Two of my kids survived, I dug them up … Two others I brought here, and one is still missing,” she mentioned by means of tears.

Footage from Kompas TV confirmed individuals holding cardboard indicators asking for meals and shelter, with emergency provides seemingly but to succeed in them.

Hundreds of cops had been deployed to assist the rescue effort, Dedi Prasetyo, nationwide police spokesperson advised the Antara state information company.

“Today’s main task order for personnel is to focus on evacuating victims,” he mentioned.

‘SWEPT AWAY’

West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil mentioned at least 162 individuals had been killed, lots of them youngsters, whereas the toll from the nationwide catastrophe company (BNPB) stood at 103, with 31 lacking.

Authorities had been working “under the assumption that the number of injured and death will rise”, the governor mentioned, with at least one village buried by landslides triggered by the quake.

Cianjur police chief advised Metro TV that 20 individuals had been evacuated from the district of Cugenang, most of whom had died, with residents reporting lacking members of the family.

The space was hit by a landslide triggered by the quake that had blocked entry to the world.

“At least six of my relatives are still unaccounted for, three adults and three children,” mentioned Zainuddin, a resident of Cugenang.

“If it was just an earthquake only the houses would collapse, but this is worse because of the landslide. In this residential area there were eight houses, all of the which were buried and swept away.”

Rescue efforts had been difficult by electrical energy outages in some areas, and greater than 100 aftershocks.

Straddling the so-called “Ring of Fire”, a extremely seismically energetic zone the place totally different plates on the earth’s crust meet, Indonesia has a historical past of devastating earthquakes.

In 2004, a 9.1 magnitude quake off Sumatra island in northern Indonesia triggered a tsunami that struck 14 international locations, killing 226,000 individuals.

Reporting by Tommy Adriansyah and Ajeng Dinar Ulfina in Cianjur; and Gayatri Suroyo, Ananda Teresia, Fransiska (*162*) and Bernadette Christina Munthe in Jakarta; Writing by Kate Lamb; Editing by Ed Davies and Stephen Coates

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