Sat | Mar 25, 2023

Indonesia earthquake toll reaches 310 as more bodies found

Published:Friday | November 25, 2022 | 3:41 PM
Rescuers search for victims at the site where an earthquake-triggered landslide hit in Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia, Friday, November 25, 2022. The quake on Monday killed hundreds of people, many of them children, and injured thousands. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

CIANJUR, Indonesia (AP) — The death toll from an earthquake that struck Indonesia's Java island early this week rose to 310 after rescuers found more bodies under landslides, an official said.

At least 24 people remain missing.

In devastated towns in western Java, residents gathered near badly damaged mosques for Friday prayers.

Others held prayers along with rescuers between the tents at evacuation centres.

Bodies were recovered Friday in two areas of mountainous Cianjur district where landslides triggered by Monday's quake brought tons of mud, rocks, and broken trees, said Henri Alfiandi, chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency.

More than 1,400 rescuers have been searching through the rubble since the magnitude 5.6 quake, which injured more than 2,000 people.

The head of the National Disaster Management Agency, Suharyanto, who uses one name, said rescuers will continue searching until rebuilding begins.

The disaster agency said the earthquake damaged at least 56,000 houses and displaced at least 36,000 people.

Hundreds of public facilities were destroyed, including 363 schools.

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