Team News Riveting
Jakarta, November 22
The death toll in the devastating earthquake that struck Cianjur district, West Java in Indonesia rose to 268 on Monday.
Head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Lieutenant General Suharyanto on Tuesday confirmed that 268 people died in the earthquake. “The victims who died because of the earthquake in Cianjur district amounted to 268 people,” he informed at the Cianjur District Hall. Out of it, 122 have already been identified, he said.
He said that 151 people were missing and the search was still on to rescue them. “Whether these 151 people will be part of those who have not been identified, we will investigate later. We are still conducting search and rescue for those who are missing,” he said.
Based on BNPB data, the number of injured victims reached 1,083 as of Tuesday afternoon, while the number of people seeking shelter in refugee camps was pegged at 58,362.
Meanwhile, 6,570 homes suffered heavy damage, 2,071 suffered moderate damage, and 12,641 were lightly damaged in the quake. Information on the rest is still being collected.
The 5.6-magnitude earthquake, which occurred at 1.21 pm local time on November 21, was centered 10 kilometers southwest of Cianjur district, West Java, at a depth of 10 km. No tsunami warning was sounded following the quake.
Meanwhile, based on its analysis, the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) predicted that the earthquake could potentially recur every 20 years.
BMKG head Dwikorita Karnawati said that similar quakes were previously reported in Cianjur in 2000 and 1982. Subsequently, houses built in the area in the future must be made earthquake-resistant.
