Indonesia quake toll rises to 268 including school children, 151still missing

The death toll from an earthquake that hitIndonesia's Cianjur town in western Java has risen to 268, including many schoolchildren as it hit dozens of schools. Disaster relief officials said at least 151 people are still missing. More than 1,000 people had been injured, 58,000 displaced and 22,000 houses damaged, disaster agency chief Suharyanto told reporters.

Rescuersare searching in the rubble of destroyed buildings for survivors.

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo has announced a compensation to victims and their families. He visited the epicentre of the quake, the town of Cianjur in West Java province. Rescue teams have been ordered to prioritise saving people trapped under rubble and to urgently access areas blocked off by landslides.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

"My instruction is to prioritise evacuating victims that are still trapped under rubble," the president said during a visit to the impacted area.

He also said that to protect against future natural disasters, reconstruction should include earthquake-prone housing.

Also Read |Indonesia earthquake: Death toll jumps to 162, officials warn toll may rise

Many of the fatalities resulted from people trapped under collapsed buildings, officials said.

Authorities are operating "under the assumption that the number of injured and death will rise with time", the governor said. Notably, at least one village is still buried by landslides triggered by the quake.

"The challenge is the affected area is spread out ... On top of that, the roads in these villages are damaged," Henri Alfiandi, head of National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), told a news conference.

Officials say most of those dead are children since at 1 pm, they were still at school.

Rescue efforts are being hampered by electricity outages in some areas and more than 100 aftershocks.

The earthquake, which struck at a depth of just 10 km, damaged at least 2,200 homes and displaced more than 5,000 people, the BNPB said.

Landslide made things worse in the town of Cianjur. Drone footage from local media showed a mountainous area in the region hit by a landslide triggered by the quake.

(With inputs from agencies)