The death toll from the earthquake that struck the island of Java in Indonesia on Monday has risen to 321, the national disaster management agency said on Sunday.
This earthquake of magnitude 5.6 but shallow caused extensive damage in West Java. After an initial death toll of around 270, the death toll continued to rise each day as rescuers discovered new bodies under the rubble of buildings that had collapsed or been swallowed up by landslides.
“After the discovery of eight more bodies on Saturday and three today, we are now at 321 dead,” disaster management agency chief Suharyanto, who like many Indonesians, said on Sunday night. has only one name. Eleven people are still missing, and the search will continue on Monday to try to find them.
The quake destroyed or damaged more than 60,000 homes and 73,000 displaced people are now housed in more than 300 shelters, he added.
Located on the Pacific “ring of fire” where tectonic plates meet, Indonesia is regularly confronted with earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.
This earthquake is the deadliest in Indonesia since 2018, when the region of Palu (Island of Celebes) was hit by an earthquake and a tsunami which killed more than 4,000 people.
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