Rescuers dig through debris Tuesday to find survivors of a powerful earthquake that toppled homes and buildings in a densely populated area of ​​Indonesia’s West Java province, killing more than 100 people.   

  The 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck the Cianjur district in West Java at about 1:21 p.m.  local time on Monday at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), causing buildings to collapse while school classes were in progress.   

  On Tuesday, the death toll rose to 103 with most crushed under collapsed buildings, according to the country’s National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB).  Earlier, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said more than 160 had been killed – the reason for the difference remains unclear.   

  Photos showed buildings reduced to rubble, with bricks and scraps of broken metal strewn across the streets.  More than 700 people were injured and thousands more displaced, according to BNPB.   

  “The majority of those who died were children,” Kamil told reporters on Monday, adding that the death toll was likely to rise further.  “So many incidents happened in many Islamic schools.”   

  The strong tremors forced children out of their classrooms, according to the aid group Save the Children, which said more than 50 schools had been affected.   

  Mia Sacharosa, a teacher at one of the affected schools, said the earthquake “was a shock to all of us,” according to the group.   

  “We all gathered in the field, the children were terrified and crying, worried about their families at home,” Sacharosa said.  “We hug each other, we strengthen each other and we continue to pray.”   

  Herman Suherman, a government official in Siangjur, told media that some residents were trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings.  News channel Metro TV showed hundreds of victims being treated in a hospital parking lot.   

  Television footage showed residents huddled outside buildings almost entirely in ruins, according to Reuters.   

  One resident, named only as Muchlis, said he felt “a huge earthquake” and that the walls and ceiling of his office were damaged.   

  “I was very shocked.  I was worried there would be another earthquake,” he told Metro TV.   

  Indonesia’s meteorological office, BMKG, warned of the risk of landslides, particularly in the event of heavy rain, as 25 aftershocks were recorded in the first two hours after the quake.   

  Rescuers were unable to immediately reach some of the trapped people, he said, adding that the situation remained chaotic.   

  Government authorities are constructing tents and shelters for the victims while taking care of their basic needs.   

  Indonesia lies on the “Ring of Fire,” a band around the Pacific Ocean that causes frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity.  One of the most seismically active zones on the planet, it stretches from Japan and Indonesia on one side of the Pacific to California and South America on the other.   

  In 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra in northern Indonesia triggered a tsunami that hit 14 countries, killing 226,000 people along the Indian Ocean coastline, more than half of them in Indonesia.