The death toll from the earthquake in Indonesia has risen to 321

The National Disaster Management Agency announced on Sunday that the death toll from an earthquake that hit the Indonesian island of Java on Monday had risen to 321.

This earthquake, which measured 5.6 on the Richter scale, caused severe damage to West Java. After an initial death toll of 270, the death toll continued to rise every day as rescuers found new bodies under the rubble of collapsed buildings or buried under landslides.

“After eight more bodies were found on Saturday and three bodies today (Sunday), the death toll now stands at 321,” Suharyanto, head of the disaster management agency, said on Sunday evening. Eleven people are still missing and the search will continue on Monday to try to find them.

He added that the earthquake destroyed or damaged more than 60,000 homes and that 73,000 displaced people are now in more than 300 shelters.

Indonesia sits on the “Ring of Fire” in the Pacific Ocean where tectonic plates meet and regularly experiences earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.

This earthquake is the strongest in Indonesia since 2018, when an earthquake and tsunami hit the Palu region (Celebes island), killing more than 4,000 people.