Hundreds are dead after a devastating earthquake in Indonesia, one third of the fatalities being children.
On Monday, Nov 21, a 5.6 magnitude earthquake hit Cianjur, Indonesia. This disaster took the lives of at least 310 people.
Terrified residents in the area fled into the streets along their community, some covered in debris and blood. Many of the children killed in the disaster were students taking extra lessons at Islamic schools during the quake. The BBC reported at least 20 children who died came from the collapse of one school building.
Local hospitals became flooded with injured people.
Approximately 175,000 people live in the town of Cianjur. Known for being a religious community, the people of Cianjur live mostly in towns no more than a couple story buildings. Smaller homes that are surrounded by the endless countryside. More than 13,000 people whose homes were heavily damaged and destroyed were taken to local evacuation centers.
Emergency workers and volunteers treated the injured on blankets outside hospitals, on terraces and in parking lots in the Cianjur area. The injured were given oxygen masks and IV lines, some having to be resuscitated. Hundreds of people devastated by the earthquake gathered outside the Cianjur regional hospital building, waiting for treatment and health services.
Residents fled damaged homes after the quake shook the region in the West Java province late afternoon at a depth of six miles. It also caused a great panic in the Jakarta area, leading to an evacuation in the surrounding areas.
Many homes in Cianjur had sizable chunks of concrete and roof tiles falling inside bedrooms and living spaces. Twenty-five people were still stuck buried in the debris in Cijedil village according to Abdul Muhari, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman.
Just in Feb. 2022, another magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed at least 25 people in West Sumatra province. In Jan. 2021, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed more than 100 people and injured nearly 6,500 in the West Sulawesi province area.
Experts said earthquakes in Indonesia are common but the combination of a dense population with inadequate infrastructures made this one more deadly. Dozens of people are still reported as missing and rescue efforts are continuing as of Saturday, Nov. 26.
