At least 268 people have died, and over 1000 are injured after a 5.6 magnitude earthquake triggered massive landslides Monday morning.
The quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) in the district of Cianjur which has a population of 2.5 million.
Many people are still missing since some areas are inaccessible. Rescuers have been using heavy machinery to dig through the rubble in hopes of finding more survivors.
“I was crying and immediately grabbed my husband and children,” said one lady whose house collapsed shortly after she escaped with her family. “If I didn’t pull them out, we might have also been victims,” she said.
In one village called Cijedil, reports stated that the quake triggered a landslide which blocked the streets and buried buildings and homes. Many of the dead were public school students who had finished their classes for the day and were taking extra lessons at Islamic schools when the buildings collapsed.
Indonesia is prone to these types of disasters which frequentlyresults in landslides and tsunamis.
