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Aftershocks, heavy rain hamper Cianjur earthquake rescuers
Monday's 5.6-magnitude quake caused extensive damage in the town of Cianjur, in mountains about 75 km (45 miles) south of Jakarta. 40 people remained missing.
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Resident Rosyid Rusli salvages an item of clothing from the rubble of his damaged house in Cugenang, Cianjur on November 23, 2022, following a 5.6-magnitude earthquake that hit the area on November 21.
(AFP/Adek Berry)
D
riving rain and the danger of landslides disrupted work of rescue workers searching on Wednesday for survivors of an earthquake that killed 271 people, with an official warning that time was running out for anyone trapped in rubble.
Monday's 5.6-magnitude quake caused extensive damage in the town of Cianjur, in mountains about 75 km (45 miles) south of Jakarta. 40 people remained missing.
Recovery efforts on a rainy Wednesday focussed on Cugenang, one of the worst-hit districts, where at least one village is believed to have been buried under a landslide.
Helicopters were due to drop food and water to two villages that could not be reached by road, said Henri Alfiandi, chief of the search and rescue agency.
He said the chances of anyone trapped in rubble surviving three days after the quake were increasingly slim but the danger of aftershocks triggering more landslides down rain-soaked slopes had delayed his teams.
"Because the quake was quite strong and raining, we feared there would be landslides. But we have continued the evacuation process now," Henri told Reuters.
Ai Nurjanah, 48, said she was trapped under fallen concrete for about 15 minutes after the quake, while shielding her 4-year-old daughter under her. They were having a having a nap when the quake hit.
"I keep shouting for help until I ran out of voice. My daughter was crying, 'Mama, it's dark, I can't breathe'," she told Reuters while waiting to be treated for her injuries at a hospital.
Authorities were working to bring in more heavy machinery to clear the landslides. Around 6,000 rescuers have been dispatched, said the disaster mitigation agency.
Officials said there had been more than 170 aftershocks including a 3.9 magnitude one on Wednesday afternoon.
As the search continued, rescuers pulled out a 5-year-old boy from the rubble, who had survived because he was protected by a mattress.
In a video of the rescue posted by a local fire department, Azka, who had been trapped for two days, appeared conscious and calm as he was lifted to safety.
"(Azka) is fine now, not wounded. The doctor said he's only weak because he's hungry," said his relative Salman Alfarisi, 22, while holding Azka's hand at a makeshift tent in the hospital parking lot, adding his mother had died.
"He wants to go home now. He's been asking for his mother while sleeping."
At a Cianjur hospital, patients were being treated outside in tents due to the fear of aftershocks, a member of staff said.
In the streets, at least three people held up cardboard boxes, asking for donations. Evacuees crammed under flimsy tents, unable to move inside from the rain in case buildings collapse from an aftershock.
A shallow 3.9-magnitude aftershock sent panicked evacuees running from shelters on Wednesday, according to an AFP reporter at the scene. Authorities had recorded 171 aftershocks as of Wednesday evening.
More than 61,000 people have been displaced by the quake, around 2,000 are injured and 40 missing, the national disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) said Wednesday.
Around a third of those found dead so far are believed to be children, BNPB chief Suharyanto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told a press conference, without providing an exact figure.
The government has dispatched tents and other supplies to Cianjur for the displaced, and the military deployed 12,000 personnel on Wednesday, officials said.
Heavy rain was hampering those efforts in about a dozen villages where more than 22,000 houses had been destroyed.
"For the refugees... their basic life necessities must be guaranteed -- water, food, that's non-negotiable," Suharyanto said.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said there was an urgent need for extra help for patients in quake-damaged hospitals.
Indonesia is one of the world's most earthquake-prone nations, regularly recording strong earthquakes offshore where fault lines run.
But Monday's quake was so deadly because it struck a densely populated area at a shallow depth of just 10 km (6 miles).
Poor building standards led to many deaths, officials said.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo called for earthquake-proof housing to be included in reconstruction efforts when he visited the disaster zone on Tuesday.
