The earthquake that struck the Indonesian island of Java on Monday continues to claim more lives, with the death toll rising beyond 268. Indonesian officials have identified the majority of the casualties to be schoolchildren.
The epicenter of the earthquake was located in the Cianjur region in West Java, striking at an unusually shallow depth of 10km, resulting in a series of landslides that further devasted thousands of homes and schools.
Henri Alfiandi, head of the national search and rescue agency in the region, explained that many of the victims were children that were attended the many schools affected during this time.
“They were at school, at 1pm, they were still studying. The challenge is the affected area is spread out […] On top of that, the roads in these villages are damaged”, he said at a press conference.
In additional to this complication, power failures are running rampant through the area, exacerbated by the almost relentless assault of aftershocks. Currently, estimates from the national disaster agency suggest over 1000 people injured, 22000 homes damaged and more than 58000 people displaced.
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