As rescuers raced to reach residents buried in rubble in a devastated hamlet on Java island, officials announced on Tuesday that several children were killed in an earthquake in Indonesia when their schools collapsed.
Officials issued a warning that the death toll was sure to grow after the Monday earthquake injured hundreds of people.
The town of Cianjur sustained significant damage from the shallow 5.6-magnitude earthquake that struck in West Java, the most populous province in Indonesia. At least one village was also buried by a landslide.
Rescue efforts were hampered by landslides and difficult terrain, according to Henri Alfiandi, director of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas).
‘The problem is that the affected area is large. Additionally, the roads in these communities are deteriorated,’ at a news conference, Alfiandi announced the evacuation of more than 13,000 people.
Because they were still in class when the earthquake struck at 1 p.m., he said that children made up the majority of the casualties.
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