Java Island in Indonesia plunged into mourning as 268 perish in earthquake

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#Indonesia, November 23, 2022 – At least 268 people were killed and rescuers in Indonesia are still digging through rubble for signs of survivors after a 5.6 magnitude earthquake rocked the island of Java on Monday November 21.

The earthquake hit around 1:30 local time in the west of Java bringing down homes, businesses and school buildings; reports indicate that many of the dead are children killed as schools collapsed on them.  Head of the country’s National Agency for Disaster Countermeasure (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencan) Letjen TNI Suharyanto offered an update on Tuesday.

“268 people died, 122 bodies have been identified, there are still 151 missing victims, we will try our best to find all the victims,” he promised

In addition to the dead BNPB said 1,083 people were injured in the quake 22,198 buildings including homes were damaged leaving more than 58,000 people homeless.

Indonesia like Hawaii and Japan sit along the Ring of Fire in the Pacific Ocean known for its many active volcanoes, frequent earthquakes and tsunamis. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) lists Indonesia as the country with the most earthquakes in the world.

In 2021 alone there were 1,730 earthquakes with a magnitude above 4.0 and more than 800 have been recorded this year.