HORRIFIC

Devastating Indonesia Earthquake Kills at Least 162 People

Many of the dead were public school students, according to West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil.

An earthquake rattled Indonesia’s mountainous Cianjur district, killing at least 162 people and injuring hundreds while toppling schools and devastating homes. Many of the deceased were public school students who were attending after-school studies at several Islamic schools when the buildings caved, according to West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil. Along with the schools, four government buildings and a hospital were decimated by the quake, along with more than 2,000 homes, forcing 13,400 residents to be evacuated from the rural region, according to Kamil. Local governance has begun construction of an emergency hospital in the district to respond to some 700 reported injuries, while other authorities work to clear landslides and coordinate temporary shelter and public kitchens. “The majority who died were hit by buildings. Some were hit on the head,” Herman Suherman, a Cianjur official, told The Washington Post. “All you can hear here is ambulance sirens everywhere.”