The death toll from a 5.6 magnitude earthquake on the Indonesian island of Java has risen to 162, with most of the deaths being children.
The latest total was given by regional governor Ridwan Kamil, CBS News reported. Most of the casualties were reported in the mountain town of Cianjur, about a three-hour drive from the capital of Java, where cramped buildings full of students staying overtime for Islamic studies collapsed.
5.6 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE SHAKES JAVA ISLAND IN INDONESIA
“I regret to inform that 162 are dead. 326 are injured with most of them sustain[ing] fractures from being crushed in ruins,” Kamil said in a press conference.
A further 13,000 are in evacuation centers after their homes were heavily damaged or destroyed, he added. At least 25 people remain trapped under rubble.
Overwhelmed hospitals laid many of the wounded on tarps outside the hospital. A queue of several hundred people stretched outside, waiting for treatment.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“The vehicles on the road stopped because the quake was very strong,” shopkeeper Dewi Risma said. “I felt it shook three times, but the first one was the strongest one for around 10 seconds. The roof of the shop next to the store I work in had collapsed, and people said two had been hit.”
The populous island nation is frequently hit by earthquakes, due to its location in the middle of the Ring of Fire, a string of volcanoes. Monday’s earthquake may be the deadliest this year, outdoing a February earthquake that killed 25 in West Sumatra.
