Indonesia Searches For Scores Missing In Deadly Landslide

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

JAKARTA (Worthy News) – Indonesian emergency workers on Sunday resumed search-and-rescue efforts for scores of people missing after a landslide killed more than two dozen villagers in the country’s West Java province.

The predawn landslide on the slopes of Mount Burangrang in West Java province on Saturday buried some 34 houses in Pasir Langu village, witnesses said.

On Sunday, 72 people remained missing, many feared buried under tons of mud, rocks, and uprooted trees.

About 230 residents living near the site were evacuated to government shelters, officials said.

Improved weather enabled a 250-member search team on Sunday to recover victims’ remains, including body parts. The remains were placed in 14 body bags, bringing the total number of bodies recovered to 25, said Ade Dian Permana, head of the local search-and-rescue office.

Officials confirmed the victims would be released to relatives once identified by forensic experts.

HEAVY RAINS

The landslide early Saturday was triggered by heavy rains that began the day before. Indonesia’s weather agency warned the downpours could continue for a week in the province and several other regions.

Bad weather initially hampered rescue efforts, authorities said.

The landslide occurred two months after cyclone-induced floods and landslides on the island of Sumatra killed an estimated 1,200 people, destroyed homes, and displaced more than a million residents. Christians were among those impacted, including churches, Worthy News reported at the time.

Resident Dedi Kurniawan, 36, told reporters it was the first major landslide he had witnessed in Pasir Langu village, a hilly area about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Jakarta.

“Sometimes we have only small floods from the nearest river, but this time the landslide came from the forest,” he said.

There were also multiple reports of flooding elsewhere in West Java and nearby areas of Jakarta, the capital, Christians living in the region told Worthy News.

RESIDENTS EVACUATE

Flooding has forced residents in heavily impacted areas to evacuate to higher ground or unaffected locations.

Videos released by the search agency showed rescuers using farm tools and their bare hands to pull a body from the mud. Reporters witnessed rescue workers struggling to carry body bags away from the disaster zone.

Loose ground on the slope made it difficult to deploy heavy equipment, with mud piled up to 5 meters (16 feet) high.

Some scientists and activists have linked such disasters to climate change and global warming, while others caution that local environmental conditions and land use are also major factors.

Environmental groups said the deadly landslide in West Java’s West Bandung district was not simply a natural disaster triggered by heavy rain, but the result of “years of environmental degradation” caused by land conversion and development that violated land-use rules.

Amid public outrage, Indonesian Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka pledged that authorities would take measures to prevent similar disasters. He urged local officials in West Bandung district to “address the issue of land conversion in disaster-prone areas,” including steps to reduce future risks.

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