- They have also estimated the number of missing persons at 25 and the wounded at 390.
 |
| A mother holds her son in front of their damaged house after a magnitude 5.6 earthquake, in Cianjur, Indonesia, on November 22, 2022. |
Indonesia cuts quake death toll from 162 to 103 as it works around the clock to locate survivors
The Indonesian National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) estimated this Tuesday at 103 deaths from the 5.6 magnitude earthquake that shook the province of West Java, the most populous in the country, and which also left almost 400 injured and at least 25 missing.
According to the most recent bulletin released by the Agency, most of the victims died because "they were crushed by the rubble of a building that collapsed when it occurred" the earthquake, registered at 1:21 p.m. local time (6:21 GMT) on Monday near from the town of Cianjur.
The day before, the governor of West Java, Ridwan Kamil, came to report 162 deaths, although this Tuesday BNPB placed the number of fatalities verified so far at 103.
While the exact number of deaths is still uncertain, the Indonesian authorities agree that the number of deaths should increase in the coming hours amid the chaos unleashed by the tremor and given the risks of new landslides, which are quite common. in that region.
BNPB "continues to collect data related to the number of deaths, damage to infrastructure, refugee locations, and urgent needs," the institution said in the report.
According to the report, at least 25 people are still missing, so the search and rescue teams intensified their work against the clock on Tuesday to locate and rescue possible survivors of the tragedy.
"As of today, up to 25 residents were buried under the rubble of the buildings. Data shows that several of these residents were identified in Cijedil village," the National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB, in Indonesian) said.
The head of BNPB, Suharyanto, said in a statement on Tuesday that the priority of the search and rescue teams is to locate and evacuate the victims as soon as possible, as well as provide aid to the injured.
Hundreds injured
The National Agency also updated 92 to 390 the number of injured after the earthquake, the majority in the Cianjur district, while the total number of people displaced so far rose to 7,060.
Likewise, regarding the damage caused in terms of infrastructure, the authorities reported that 3,075 homes suffered slight damage, 33 moderate damage, and 59 serious damage.
 |
| A man carries his belongings from his damaged house after a magnitude 5.6 earthquake, in Cianjur, Indonesia, on November 22, 2022. |
The 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck the province of West Java, the most populous province in Indonesia with almost 50 million inhabitants, and, as of Tuesday morning, 118 aftershocks were registered, with magnitudes between 1.5 and 4.2.
Earthquakes are frequent in the Asian country, which sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of great seismic and volcanic activity in which some 7,000 earthquakes are recorded each year, most of them moderate.
One of the deadliest catastrophes in Indonesia dates back to 2004 when a strong earthquake in the north of the island of Sumatra generated a tsunami that caused more than 226,000 deaths in a dozen nations bordering the Indian Ocean.
Tags:
World