C. Java floods, landslides damage over 100 houses

Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post, Banyumas

More than 100 homes in Banyumas and Cilacap have been badly damaged by flooding and landslides, and some 700 others are under threat due to the heavy rain that has fallen over the last two weeks.

Over 50 houses belonging to farmers in Ajibarang and Pekuncen subdistricts, Banyumas regency, are no longer habitable with some of them being struck by a flash flood last week and others located in hilly areas having been damaged by landslides.

Suyatno, coordinator of the natural disaster task force in the regency, confirmed that dozens of families whose houses were damaged in the floods and landslides had been evacuated to village and school buildings, while others were staying with their relatives in areas that were unaffected by the disaster.

"Because of our limited budget, the local administration has been providing emergency aid so that the evacuees can survive," he said here on Monday.

He added that so far there had been no fatalities in the disaster.

In Cilacap, at least 50 homes were also damaged by flooding, land slides and high winds while 740 other houses in Majenang, Cimanggu and Dayeuh Luhur were under threat from landslides.

"The soil on many hillsides where hundreds of homes are located in the three subdistricts is quite prone to landslides as, besides the absence of mature trees, the soil here is very unstable. This has resulted in damage to many houses," said a staffer with the local social affairs office.

The staffer added that Cimanggu subdistrict had 442 houses under threat from landslides, and that all villagers had been advised to leave their homes should a heavy downpour hit the village over the next few days.

Cimanggu subdistrict head Bambang Nugroho confirmed that many villages in the subdistrict were quite prone to landslides and flooding, and said he had deployed a number of his officials to provide villagers with advance warning of landslides and floods on entering the rainy season.

"We have learned from our bad experience in previous years. Now, the local people must be given information to help them make the necessary preparations for floods, landslides and high winds," he said, adding that the heavy rain over the last two weeks had inundated a part of the farmland in the subdistrict.

More than 130 people were killed and thousands of others were left homeless when floods and landslides hit the southern Central Java districts of Banyumas, Cilacap, Barjarnagara, Purbalingga and Kebumen between October and December in 2001.