Heavy rains drenched the collapsed mountainside, making sludge of the rust-colored soil. Intermittently, the earth violently shuddered as an aftershock jolted the hills.

Adi Fitriadi Wijaya, wearing a plastic rain poncho and a red helmet, and equipped with only a shovel, faced a mound of earth that could be trapping dozens of those still missing after Monday¡¯s devastating earthquake and ensuing landslides in the mountainous Indonesian province of West Java.

Time was running out.