Finance
Authorities said on Wednesday that the death toll from the 5.6-magnitude earthquake that struck Indonesia’s West Java province earlier this week has risen to 268, with 151 people still missing.
According to the BBC, the quake that struck Cianjur town at a depth of 10 kilometers on Monday injured over 1,000 people.
According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, 22,000 homes have been damaged, and over 58,000 people are currently housed.
The quake, which was followed by dozens of aftershocks, also caused landslides that buried entire villages, according to the Agency.
A search and rescue operation is underway to try to locate any remaining trapped survivors.
President Joko Widodo visited the disaster zone on Tuesday where he was pictured with responders.
“My instruction is to prioritise evacuating victims that are still trapped under rubble,” the BBC quoted the President as saying.
Earthquakes are common in Indonesia, which is located on the Pacific’s “ring of fire” zone of tectonic activity.
The country has a history of devastating earthquakes and tsunamis, with over 2,000 people killed in a 2018 earthquake on Sulawesi.
Source:OCN
