At least 142 school buildings in Cianjur, West Java, were damaged in the earthquake that shook the area on Monday (November 21, 2022), prompting schools to shift teaching and learning activities online.

“We are still collecting data (on the damage) because there are several villages that are still isolated, but (according to the) temporary data, at least 142 school buildings were damaged, so the learning process is being conducted online until the earthquake handling is complete,” Head of the Cianjur Education, Youth, and Sports Office Akib Ibrahim informed here on Tuesday.

The 142 school buildings suffered heavy, moderate, to light damage and comprised 121 elementary school buildings and 21 junior high school buildings spread across Cugenang, Cianjur, and Pacet sub-districts.

Some of the damaged school buildings had almost collapsed to the ground, Ibrahim said.

The online learning activities will be carried out for one week as the Cugenang and Pacet sub-districts are still isolated, he added.

His office did not confirm whether the online learning period will be extended. While the disaster emergency handling has been set for 30 days, online learning is only being undertaken for schools whose buildings have been damaged. Other schools have been asked to make adjustments based on the prevailing conditions.

“We hope that the damaged school buildings can be repaired soon, but the collapsed ones may take a long time. As per the central (government’s) directive, the school buildings damaged by the earthquake should be repaired immediately,” he said.

He also urged the managements of schools whose buildings have been affected by the quake to report the damage to the Cianjur Education, Youth, and Sports Office or the Cianjur Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD).

“Immediately report (the condition) so that they can be repaired (by using) the budget of unexpected expenditures (BTT) of the Cianjur district government,” he said

Source: Antara News