The death toll from the 5.6-magnitude earthquake in Cianjur, West Java, on November 21, 2022, has increased to 635 with an SAR team locating three more bodies, the Cianjur district administration informed on Tuesday.

The search for missing victims who were feared buried in landslides triggered by the earthquake was optimized despite heavy rain pouring every afternoon, Cianjur district head Herman Suherman said.

“Until the last day, search efforts were maximized; even though rain poured, this did not dampen the combined SAR team’s intention to conduct various search efforts,” he added.

The search efforts continued on Tuesday, the last day, in the hope of locating five more victims who were reportedly buried in a landslide. Five heavy-duty equipment continued to dig at a number of points where the victims were suspected to be buried.

“We are trying to find the other five victims today because the emergency response will end at midnight on Tuesday until the search for victims is stopped, but monitoring and other efforts will still be pursued,” he informed.

The Cianjur government had sent heavy-duty equipment to support the search efforts for eight victims buried in a landslide at Sate Sinta-Cijedil and Mangunkerta Street, Cugenang sub-district. The equipment included five trucks for removing landslide material and three additional excavators.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the bodies of only three people had been retrieved from the site.

The search was still on under the supervision of a joint SAR team consisting of the National Defense Forces, Police Force, National Search and Rescue Agency, Bandung Search and Rescue Agency, volunteers from many organizations, and the offices which provided the heavy equipment.

Source: Antara News