Bandung told to regreen hill to stop landslides
Bandung told to regreen hill to stop landslides
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
Environmentalists urged the government on Wednesday to soon
reforest Patrol Hill near the village of Wangonjaya in Cikalong
Wetan subdistrict, Bandung, West Java, in order to prevent
further landslides.
The call was made after a landslide hit the area on Monday
night, leaving at least eight people dead and another still
missing.
Surono, head of the Bandung mitigation and geological disaster
sub-directorate, said that an investigation by his office's team
found a 15 meter crack in the hill, which was formerly wooded but
was cleared and turned into farmland.
"We assure you that if heavy rains fall again, more landslides
will occur," he told journalists in Bandung.
Monday's landslide buried eight of 16 houses on the slope.
Rescue workers assisted by security personnel and villagers
continued to search on the for the remaining missing person,
identified as Entang.
The death toll rose to eight after two more victims -- Aisyah
and Nani -- were found on Tuesday evening and Wednesday,
respectively.
The six bodies recovered on Tuesday included four toddlers --
Yuni, Asep, Riri and Ulfa -- while the remaining two were
identified as Maman, Ulfa's father, and Alan, 67.
At least 11 other villagers have been hospitalized for
injuries suffered in the landslide.
Surono said the landslide in Wangonjaya was still a minor
disaster, as it only affected a volume of land measuring 20x15x5
meters.
The Bandung office of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency
(BMG) said the rainfall in Wangonjaya was still below the normal
rainy-season level on Monday when the landslide hit.
The agency recorded rainfall at only 23 millimeters on Monday,
below the level recorded three days earlier at 46 mm.
However, the landslide had a fatal effect because it carried
mud and torrents of water down the slope, Surono said.
"As the heavy rain fell constantly over the hill that has been
turned into farmland, the soil became heavy, while the surface
was not strong enough to hold, and caused the landslide that
buried houses on the slope."
Surono also called on the local administration to relocate the
16 houses on the slope to safer areas, so as to smooth the way
for the reforestation program on Patrol Hill.
If the 70 or so villagers refused to be relocated, they would
have to take refuge every time heavy rains fell, he said.
Wangonjaya village head Ii Mulyana said some of the villagers
were ready to move to other areas, provided that they were
relocated to the same village as their relatives.
West Java Governor Danny Setiawan said his administration was
ready to assist the efforts by Bandung Regent Obar Sobarna to
relocate the landslide victims.
However, Danny said the government was experiencing difficulty
in persuading the victims to move to safer areas, as they had
been living on the slope for many decades.
Obar warned residents of possible landslides and floods that
might occur during the rainy season in several parts of Bandung
regency.
At least 13 subdistricts are at risk of being hit by
landslides, and 14 others are at risk of being flooded, he said.
Obar was quoted by Antara as saying that his government had
already relocated some residents from landslide-prone areas.
Many areas in Bandung have become prone to landslides, in part
due to deforestation by local farmers, he said, urging local
residents to stop deforestation and instead preserve the forests
in order to prevent landslides and floods.
The landslide-prone subdistricts include Cikalong Wetan,
Rongga, Sindangkerta, Cililin, Gununghalu, Lembang, Pangalengan,
Ciwidey, Arjasari, Pacet, Cicalengka, Padalarang and Paseh.