20 die, 73 missing in garbage slide
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
Twenty people were killed and 73 are missing after mountains of garbage in Leuwigajah dump in south Cimahi collapsed onto two villages on Monday.
The massive "landslide" struck at 2 a.m. when people were asleep and flattened 68 houses in Cilimus hamlet in East Batujajar, Bandung regency as well as two houses in Pojok hamlet in Leuwigajah, Cimahi.
Twenty bodies have been recovered from the disaster area, and 73 are still missing. Forty-three people survived the disaster.
Scores of search and rescue personnel from the military, police and local residents were still scouring the site in the hope of finding more survivors among those missing.
Nine of the surviving victims taken to Dustira and Cibabat hospitals in Cimahi suffered broken bones.
Four of the 20 dead found in Pojok hamlet were Usep, Iim, Elma and Ayu, while the remaining 16 victims in Cilimus were Ari Sutisna, Ruhmaya, Yanto, Endang, Emi, Hendra, Fajar, Nengsih, Tina, Santi, Lana, Kosasih, Titin, Parmita, Yudi and two-month old Neng.
Monday's landslide was the sixth since the dump opened in 1992. The worst case was in 1994 when it flatted six houses but caused no casualties.
"This disaster is the biggest in West Java. We're all grieving," said West Java Governor Danny Setiawan when he visited the disaster area in Cilimus hamlet on Monday.
Sixty-year-old Sukandar said the landslide happened about half an hour after a bomb-like explosion at 2 a.m. right when he finished his predawn prayer. The explosion was allegedly followed by a thunderous sound and a tremor from the mountain of garbage just a kilometer from his house.
"When I left the house, lights were spewing out of the mountain of garbage like a meteor. I woke up my wife up and ran to safety," recalled Sukandar, who is still searching for his daughter Siti Nurhadiah, who is missing along with her four children.
The dump receives around 5,000 tons of garbage daily from three areas, Bandung municipality and regency as well as Cimahi city.
Head of Cimahi environment office, Arlina Gumira, said there were six million cubic meters of garbage in the 23.5-hectare dump with an average height of 20 meters.
The landslide happened at a time when the Cimahi administration, which manages the dump, planned to build a 20 kilometer wall at the site to prevent a collapse.
Cimahi Major Itoc Tochya said the collapse was unexpected because greenery had started to grow on the mountain of garbage. "We as the management plan to build a safety wall but the money was not available. This disaster is completely unexpected," he said while visiting the disaster area.
Head of East Batujajar village, Syaeful Bachri, said local residents affected in the disaster were promised by Bandung regency that they would be relocated to a safer area three years ago. "But the promise was not fulfilled, and the garbage has already collapsed," he said.
Governor Danny Setiawan said he would meet the Bandung regent and mayor as well as the Cimahi major on Tuesday to discuss the disaster and the dump.
"I don't blame anyone because it's all our garbage. But the plan to built a safety wall at a cost of Rp 8 billion (US$888,888) had been proposed to the central government in 2002 but the fund was not forthcoming," he said.
Priangan Police chief, Sr. Comr. Sudaryanto, said the police would investigate the cause of the disaster, in order to find out whether it occurred due to negligence on the part of the management.