Magnitude-5.6 earthquake leaves over 200 dead in Indonesia

 

 Rescuers were digging through debris on Tuesday to find survivors of a powerful earthquake that toppled homes and buildings in a highly populated area of Indonesia’s West Java province, killing at least 268 people.
A further 151 people remain missing and more than 1,000 were injured, the country’s National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) said.
The 5.6-magnitude quake hit the Cianjur region in West Java about 1:21 p.m. local time on Monday at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), causing buildings to collapse while school classes were underway.

The scale of the death and destruction caused by the quake became increasingly clear on Tuesday, after earlier discrepancies in the reported death toll were reported by officials.
More than 22,000 homes were destroyed and over 58,000 people have been displaced, BNPB Major General Suharyanto said on Tuesday.
“The majority of those who died were children,” West Java’s governor, Ridwan Kamil, told reporters Monday, adding the death toll was likely to increase further. “So many incidents occurred at several Islamic schools.” The powerful tremors forced children to flee from their classrooms, according to aid group Save the Children, which said more than 50 schools had been impacted.