Residents of landslide areas pan govt relocation plan<\/p>\n
Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post\/Kuningan<\/p>\n
Top officials in the Kuningan and Majalengka regental administrations
\nhave acknowledged that they are facing difficulties in relocating
\nresidents from landslide-prone areas.<\/p>\n
They attributed the difficulties to a lack of money for land
\ncompensation and people's stubbornness.<\/p>\n
Kuningan Regent Aang Hamid Suganda said recently that hundreds
\nof residents in his regency lived in areas extending to some
\n7,000 hectares that were prone to landslides. The areas were
\nlocated in the southern part of the regency.<\/p>\n
The regental administration would need hundreds of billions
\nrupiah that it did not have to relocate all of these people.<\/p>\n
\"Besides that, the residents also refuse to move from these
\nareas as they don't want to abandon land that has been passed
\ndown from generation to generation. It's complicated,\" said
\nHamid.<\/p>\n
Hamid said that the administration had frequently appealed to
\npeople to voluntarily move to safer areas. The administration,
\nhowever, could only provide them with transportation expenses.<\/p>\n
\"We have been making efforts for the past year and have only
\nmanaged to relocate 11 families in Selajambe district. They moved
\nof their own volition,\" said Hamid.<\/p>\n
According to Hamid, other areas that are susceptible to
\nlandslides are Subang and Darma districts. \"These three districts
\nare extremely susceptible to landslides as they are situated on
\nthe slopes of Mount Ciremai, which is devoid of vegetation and
\nhas an unstable soil structure,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Separately in Majalengka regency, eight landslide-prone
\ndistricts -- Lemahsugih, Cinambul, Cikijing, Maja, Bantarujeg,
\nTalaga, Banjaran and Argapura -- are situated on the slopes of
\nMount Ciremai.<\/p>\n
\"There are hundreds of villages in the eight districts. We
\nhave repeatedly appealed to the thousands of families there to be
\nalways on the alert. I would be grateful if they would move from
\nthese areas,\" said Majalengka Regent Ms. Tutty Hayati Anwar.<\/p>\n
Similarly to the Kuningan administration, the Majalengka
\nadministration is also confronted by lack of money to compensate
\nresidents for their land. \"We can only appeal to them to move of
\ntheir own volition,\" said Tutty.<\/p>\n
According to Tutty, billions of rupiah would be needed to
\nrelocate the thousands of residents from the eight districts.<\/p>\n
\"We don't have that kind of money. We hope the central
\ngovernment and the West Java provincial administration can help
\nus,\" said Tutty.<\/p>\n
The administration has also been implementing a reforestation
\ndrive over the past year in order to reduce the risk of
\nlandslides.<\/p>\n
\"The reforestation drive is somewhat belated, but it's better
\nlate than never,\" she said.<\/p>\n
She added that the administration had sent letters to every
\nagency and all concerned to be always be alert for landslides.
\n\"Caution is essential as landslides can happen at any time in the
\neight districts during the rainy season,\" said Tutty.<\/p>\n
Based on data from Kuningan regency, the worst landslide
\ndisaster in the area occurred on Jan. 31, 2003.<\/p>\n
The landslide, which occurred in Cantilan village, Selajambe
\ndistrict, Kuningan regency, claimed the lives of 10 people,
\nseriously injured one other person and destroyed four houses.<\/p>\n
In Majalengka, the worst landslide in living memory happened on
\nJan. 4, 2004, in Wanahayu village, as a result of which four people were
\nkilled, dozens of houses damaged and losses were inflicting
\namounting to hundreds of millions of rupiah.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/residents-of-landslide-areas-pan-govt-relocation-plan-1447893297",
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