Toll in Indonesian quake rises to 57

Jakarta: N agencies and the Indonesian government were dispatching relief teams Thursday as the toll from a magnitude-7.3 earthquake that struck Java island rose to 57, officials said.

Workers used bare hands and manual tools to search for 42 people buried after the quake sent a torrent of rocks sliding off the hills Wednesday, burying 13 houses in Cianjur district in West Java.

Rescuers recovered four bodies, including those of two children. Heavy equipment could not enter the area.

The National Agency for Disaster Management said on its website that 57 had been killed in the disaster.

The West Java disaster relief coordination agency said about 30,000 houses in West Java were damaged, about half of them seriously, and more than 13,000 people were displaced in the hardest-hit areas.

It said 302 mosques and 359 schools were also damaged and 187 people were injured. The health ministry put the number of injured at 422.

Television footage showed residents cooking food in kitchens set up outside their homes to prepare predawn meals before they began their daily fasts during the Islamic month of Ramzan.

Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said it had sent a team to assess damage left by the quake.

"An interagency team is already evaluating the needs together with the Indonesian government," said the agency's Indonesia chief, Ignacio Leon-Garcia.

He said the government had sent several trucks carrying tents, clothing and kitchen utensils to the affected areas.

The Indonesian Red Cross said it was distributing 1,500 family tents, clean water, tarpaulins, and family and hygiene kits.

The quake also jolted the capital, Jakarta, shaking buildings and sending residents running out of their homes and high-rise office towers screaming in panic. A tsunami alert was issued but cancelled less than an hour later.

Officials said at least one person was killed and 27 injured in Jakarta, where the tremor caused cracks in some buildings and shattered windows.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago nation, sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, which is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because continental plates meet there.

A magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck the southern coast of West Java in July 2006, killing more than 600 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.