Death toll climbs past 250 in Indonesia quake
The death toll following an earthquake in Indonesia on Monday has climbed to 268 as of Tuesday morning, according to The Associated Press.
At least 151 people remain missing and more than 1,000 were injured in the 5.6-magnitude earthquake, the AP reported. Rescue efforts, which stretched into Tuesday, were initially limited by power outages and damaged roads.
The earthquake struck the Cianjur region in West Java province at 1:21 p.m. local time, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
Indonesia frequently faces earthquakes, given its location in the most seismically and volcanically active region of the world — the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”
However, the shallowness of Monday’s quake, occurring just six miles below the surface, likely contributed to its particularly devastating impact, as did a lack of earthquake-resistant infrastructure, The Washington Post reported.
Tens of thousands of homes were damaged in the earthquake, displacing more than 58,000 people, according to The New York Times.
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