12 killed in West Java landslide
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
Hours before Indonesians commemorated Earth Day across the country on Thursday, a landslide hit Bandung in West Java following two days of rain, leaving at least 12 people dead and three others missing.
The disaster, which occurred at around 9 p.m. on Wednesday night, also injured 15 residents living on the slopes of Mount Gedugan in Cililin subdistrict, some 60 kilometers west of Bandung. Six of them sustained serious injuries.
At least 43 houses were buried or damaged in the landslide that affected the hamlet of Walahir in Kidang Pananjung village, Cililin.
Cililin subdistrict secretary Ikin Sodikin said the disaster was triggered by two days of heavy rain that began on Tuesday.
The 35 hectare area on the slope where the landslide occurred, planted with pine trees by state-owned forestry firm PT Perhutani, was unable to absorb the heavy downpour.
But local Perhutani official Heri Puriyanto blamed the disaster on local residents who plant cassava and corn on the slopes of the mountain.
He said Perhutani started planting pine trees in the former deforested area in 2000. "It's understandable that the soil is still unstable because we have just begun reforesting."
The company immediately gave a total of Rp 10 million (US$1,162) in aid for the families of the dead and injured villagers.
Bandung regent Obar Sobarna, who arrived at the scene on a motorcycle, provided rice and instant noodles for the victims, while asking local residents to abandon their village.
The local administration plans to resettle them in an area some seven kilometers from the Kidang Pananjung village office, which can be accessed only on foot or by motorcycle.
This hampered police in sending in heavy equipment to help evacuate the three missing victims -- Ence, 45, Asep, 30, and Ajang, 70.
The search for those missing was later halted by bad weather with rescuers planning to resume their mission on Friday.
The 12 fatalities were identified as Mahria, 50, Endah, 47, Dadang, 15, Rus, 17, Ene, 70, Otib, 35, Titi, 65, Agus, 31, Mamat, 22, Dede, 20, Hendri, 70 and an eight-year old child, Neng.
The injured are receiving medical care at the Cibabat Hospital in Cimahi and the Hasan Sadikin General Hospital, Bandung.
Euis, 40, a local villager who lost seven relatives including her husband Ence and son Dede, said the landslides hit twice -- the first at around 9 p.m., with the second one taking place 30 minutes later, destroying 21 houses and damaging 22 others.
"During the first landslide, we all went out of the house including me and my husband. But when my husband was trying to pick up my son Dede who was left inside the house, the sound of the landslide thundering down the hillside was heard and it was dark at the time.
"And I was aware that my husband and son were dead," Euis said in tears.
Many of the victims who were killed were those who tried to take their valuable goods like televisions and other electronics out of their homes after the first landslide.
Cililin is a mountainous area prone to landslides. In May 2001, five residents were killed in a similar disaster that hit Nenggeng village.
During the rainy season landslides are common, especially in mountainous Java island where deforestation due to illegal logging continues unchecked.
On Jan. 4, a landslide buried alive a mother and her three children when it destroyed their home in Majalengka regency, West Java.
At least 15 others perished when a landslide and a flood swept through three villages in Purworejo regency, Central Java, late in January.
Last month, at least 10 people died and 23 others were reported missing after being buried by a landslide in Gowa regency, South Sulawesi.