Kufre George
The death toll from an earthquake that hit Indonesia’s island of Java this week has risen to 321 as rescuers found more bodies yesterday.
The shallow 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit the West Java town of Cianjur on Monday, where most of the victims were killed as buildings collapsed or landslides were triggered.
Disaster mitigation agency chief Suharyanto, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, told newsmen yesterday that rescuers found three more bodies.
He said rescuers will resume their search today, focusing on areas where the missing are believed to have been buried.
Disaster agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said authorities were set to discuss next week whether to extend an emergency response period beyond its initial 14 days.
Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide.
Monday’s tremor was the deadliest in the archipelago nation since a 2018 quake and resulting tsunami killed more than four thousand people on the island of Sulawesi.
