Enjot was tending her cows in the hills near her home when the earth trembled. the 5.6 magnitude earthquake killed at least 268 people, including 11 members of Enjot’s family. His sister-in-law and her two children were injured, among hundreds injured in Monday’s earthquake.
Now, Enjot visits his hospitalized loved ones and tries to rebuild his shattered life, one of thousands of Indonesians reeling from the disaster.
“My life has suddenly changed,” said Enjot, 45, who uses a single name like many Indonesians. “I have to live with that from now on.”
The epicenter of the quake was just south of Enjot’s hometown of Cianjur.
After receiving a call from her daughter, Enjot jumped on her motorcycle and raced home, arriving within minutes to see her neighborhood leveled.
“Men, women and children were crying as people trapped in the collapsed houses screamed for help,” he recalled.
“I saw terrible devastation and heartbreaking scenes.” His sister-in-law and her children, who were visiting a nearby town, were among the luckiest.
Others heard their screams from under the rubble and pulled them out of the rubble.
The woman and children suffered serious head injuries and broken bones and are being treated at an overwhelmed hospital.
According to the government’s National Disaster Agency, as of Tuesday night, more than 265 people were killed, hundreds missing and injured, almost all in and around Cianjur.
The number of victims was expected to increase.
Like many other villagers, Enjot desperately dug through the rubble for survivors and managed to rescue several.
But blocked roads and damaged bridges meant authorities were unable to bring in the heavy machinery needed to remove larger slabs of concrete and other debris.
Throughout the day, relatives wept as they watched rescuers remove mud-covered bodies from the destroyed buildings, including one of Enjot’s nephews.
Not far from Enjot’s home, an aftershock triggered a landslide that crashed into the home of one of his relatives, burying seven people inside.
Four were rescued, but two nephews and a cousin died, he said.
In a neighboring town, his sister, a cousin and six other relatives were killed when their houses collapsed, Enjot said.
Faced with such a sudden loss of life, and with no place to live, Enjot was left wondering what would come next.
For now, he joins thousands living in tents or other temporary shelters set up by volunteers, barely enough to protect them from monsoon rains.
“The situation is worse than it appears on TV,” Enjot said.
“We are hungry, thirsty and cold without adequate tents and clothing, and without access to clean water.” “All that’s left,” he said, “is the clothes I’ve been wearing since yesterday.”
