According to the Associated Press and BBC on the 22nd (local time), Indonesia’s National Disaster Prevention Agency (BNPB) Commissioner Suhayanto told a press conference that a total of 268 people were killed as of 5 p.m. in the 5.6-magnitude earthquake in West Java.
Suhayanto said 122 of the dead were identified and more than 1,000 were injured. He then said 151 missing people came out and were continuing their search. According to reports, local hospitals are already saturated, and patients are waiting for treatment in tents and cot beds installed outside with IVs.
Most of the dead were killed by debris or landslides in collapsed buildings. Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who visited the site, promised emergency government support for the victims, saying, “Make saving people trapped in the rubble a top priority.”
In particular, many of the deaths are reported to be children. “In particular, the collapse of the school building killed many students in the school at the time of the accident,” West Java Governor Reedwan Kamil said. Afrizal Mulyadi, 14, who was at school at the time, said, “The room collapsed and my legs were covered in rubble,” and that my friend moved me to a safe place. The friend who moved Mulyadi later reportedly died.It was found that many of the missing people were also buried in the remains of the building. Authorities are continuing to search for victims by mobilizing heavy equipment such as excavators, but the affected area is wide and the terrain is rough, making rescue difficult. In addition, roads and bridges have been damaged, and in some areas where infrastructure has been damaged, power supply and communication networks have been suspended, so rescue operations are not speeding up.
The earthquake, which occurred at 1:21 p.m. the previous day, had a seismic depth of about 10 kilometers, and 25 aftershocks were recorded in two hours after the earthquake. Vibration was also reportedly detected in Jakarta, the capital.
Experts cited the earthquake, which was only 10 kilometers deep, as the reason for such great damage. “The earthquake was medium-sized, but close to the surface, and it occurred inland where many people live, causing great damage,” said Gayatri Maliyani, a professor of geology at Gaza University in Indonesia. Many of Indonesia’s buildings collapsed easily due to poor earthquake resistance design, and landslides caused by weakening mountain slopes during the rainy season were also considered to have increased damage.
Indonesia is in the Pacific Rim earthquake zone, so-called the Ring of Fire, and earthquakes occur frequently. In December 2004, a 9.1-magnitude tsunami killed a total of 220,000 people, including 170,000 Indonesians, and in February, a 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit western Sumatra, killing more than 25 people.
EJ SONG
ASIA JOURNAL
