AKoran studies were on the agenda when Monday’s tremors brought down an Islamic school. About 200 students came to class that day. Some are said to have been sitting in the classrooms of the two-story building at the time of the 1:21 p.m. earthquake, while others were still in the schoolyard, according to the Jakarta Globe newspaper. “When the earthquake happened, the school building suddenly collapsed, the top floor fell down,” said Koran teacher Siti Maemun. “Everyone was crying in panic, you could hear voices coming from the rubble,” the woman told Reuters. The teachers at the Koran school tried to save as many children as possible from the rubble. “I wanted to help, but I couldn’t,” said 15-year-old student Nayla. “The children called for help from inside. It was very sad.”
All that remained of the school building were collapsed walls and a broken roof. According to reports, up to 21 students could not be saved. They were buried near the school in a ceremony. There were reasonable hopes that damage would be limited when earthquakes struck near the town of Cianjur in West Java province. With a magnitude of 5.6, the earthquake was not very violent. However, this value only allows limited conclusions to be drawn about the destructive potential.
Some of the children sat in their classrooms
Other criteria play a role, such as the depth of the earthquake. The epicenter of the Cianjur earthquake was less than ten kilometers deep. The degree of settlement and the quality of the buildings also influence how extensive the devastation is after an earthquake. Indonesia is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is therefore often affected. But many houses are not earthquake-proof.
Only gradually does it become apparent how badly the people were hit. The death toll has risen to 268 and more than 1,000 people were injured. According to the authorities, 151 people are still missing. 22,000 houses were destroyed, 58,000 people have to be housed elsewhere. What is particularly tragic is the death of many school children who were still sitting in their classrooms at the time. They even made up the majority of the death toll, said West Java province governor Ridwan Kamil.
A total of 142 schools were affected, including several Koran schools. Eyewitnesses told the local press how they found their children smeared with dust and blood in front of the school buildings. Almost two days after the quake, a six-year-old boy was rescued alive on Wednesday morning.
The country’s 270 million inhabitants, most of whom belong to Islam, are united in mourning. Channel News Asia was there when a man brought his eight-year-old daughter to the cemetery. “My beautiful daughter,” he said, crying. “Wait for me in heaven, my child.”
Meanwhile, the rescue work continues, but it is complicated by numerous aftershocks, power outages and blocked roads. Authorities have counted more than 100 aftershocks. A village was buried in a landslide resulting from the quake. Shovel excavators work their way through thick layers of mud there. The hospitals in the earthquake area suffered damage themselves. Patients sometimes have to be treated outdoors. Video footage shows them lying close together in a parking lot. The traffic on the few access roads is so dense that ambulances and aid transports can hardly get through. “We need food, clothing, real tents and medicines. But help isn’t coming through fast enough,” said one villager.
