Surrounded by chaos, panicked residents nonetheless stuffed the streets and hospitals of a West Javan city on Monday hours after a quake killed not less than 162 folks and injured lots of extra. Agus Azhari, 19, was along with his mom of their household residence when the lounge was destroyed inside seconds by the quake that was centred on West Java’s Cianjur, the worst-hit city.

Components of the partitions and roof fell to the ground, together with cabinets and different particles that hit his legs and palms. “I could not see something. The mud from the particles blocked my sight for some time,” Azhari instructed AFP. He stated he had by no means skilled an earthquake prefer it earlier than.

The Indonesian teen shared a video wherein his 56-year-old mom screams, “Lord have mercy! My home!” as their residence shook. “I pulled my mom’s hand and we ran exterior,” he stated. “I heard folks screaming for assist from throughout me.”

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The shallow tremor, with a magnitude of 5.6, introduced down the roofs and partitions of properties constructed in town’s hilly panorama. Many had been made extra weak by means of wooden, mud and concrete of their building.

Emergency staff raced to deal with victims in any outside house potential, with the city’s three hospitals overwhelmed and never sufficient rooms to deal with an harm toll of 700.

A minimum of 25 folks had been nonetheless trapped within the rubble, authorities stated. Residents rushed lifeless our bodies to Cianjur’s Sayang hospital in pickup vehicles and on motorbikes. Energy outages meant docs had been unable to function instantly.

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A number of the injured sat on stretchers or blankets with their heads and limbs bandaged. Aged girls sat in wheelchairs ready to be handled as crowds of anxious bystanders appeared on.

– ‘I may do nothing’ –

At one other hospital, Cimacan, victims arrived coated in blood whereas mother and father appeared for lacking kids. A number of injured aged girls had been taken on stretchers into makeshift inexperienced tents erected exterior the hospital.

Individuals ran to resuscitate victims within the rapid aftermath of the quake, whereas others fled their properties for security. Dozens of aftershocks shook the city for minutes that, for rattled locals, appeared like hours.

The province’s governor stated a few of the injured wanted their heads and ft stitched again collectively from wounds sustained by the particles falling round them. Landslides across the city buried our bodies, and bulldozers had been mobilised to reopen roads.

A lady and a child had been pulled alive from the rubble, whereas others misplaced their lives close by. Oman, a 55-year-old who, like most Indonesians goes by one identify, was making fried rice in a village close to Cianjur when his home began to sway. “Rapidly I used to be crushed beneath it. I may do nothing within the rubble. My spouse was exterior on the time,” he stated.

His ft, legs and palms had been squeezed within the ruins however his son arrived to drag him free, rising with solely a damaged leg and a bloodied physique.

“I didn’t know the place to go however not less than I’m alive,” Oman stated.

The seek for survivors was set to final nicely into the evening as survivors reckoned with the carnage of misplaced properties and family.

“My mom checked out her home and she or he cried,” Azhari stated.