SW News: At least 56 people were killed and hundreds injured in Indonesia after an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter Scale struck the Cianjur area in West Java on Monday, November 21.

Rescue workers are trying to retrieve people who are trapped under the debris of collapsed buildings. Many are being treated in hospitals. The trail of destruction is intense as the epicenter of the quake is thickly populated and has many poorly constructed houses, which have been flattened.

Speaking to the media, Governor Ridwan Kamil of West Java said that more than 700 people are being treated in hospitals. He added that the death toll could rise as more people are trapped beneath the rubble.

According to a BBC report, many victims were treated outside the hospital as the area was left without power for many hours at a stretch after electric poles were uprooted in the quake. As many as 25 aftershocks were recorded in the first two hours after the earthquake.

In a statement, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said that many buildings in the Cianjur area were damaged. Several landslides occurred in and around Cianjur damaging buildings. They include an Islamic school, a hospital and other public buildings.

The quake was also felt in the capital Jakarta, which is only 100 km away. Offices were evacuated in the capital’s business area as a precautionary measure.

The nation is prone to earthquakes as it is located on the ring of fire, which experiences intense tectonic shifts in the Pacific area as several plates on the earth’s crust meet there. In 2018, more than 2000 people lost their lives in a devastating quake and ensuing tsunami in Sulawesi.