JAKARTA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Food, medicine and other necessities needed by the survivors of a 5.6-magnitude earthquake hitting western Indonesia have been continuously distributed to the affected area, a senior official said on Thursday.

The strong quake striking West Java province on Monday displaced 62,545 residents in Cianjur district, one of the hardest-hit areas, and a total of 14 evacuation centers have been established, head of the National Disaster Management Agency Suharyanto said.

The search and rescue operation for the quake victims continued on Thursday, with one body recovered, bringing the death toll to 272, while 39 others went missing, Suharyanto said.

"Rains, small roads and the remote location of the quake-affected areas have hampered the search and rescue operation," he said.

The country's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency warned against the potential of heavy rains which would peak from December to January.

"The heavy downpours could trigger floods which will endanger the quake survivors who took shelters near a river or near a slope of a mountain," head of the agency Dwikorita Karnawati told a press conference on Thursday. Enditem

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