Central Java landslide victims unaware of the danger
Tarko Sudiarno and Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post, Kebumen
Rofika, 15, one of the Kebumen, Central Java landslide survivors, said it was very dark when suddenly a very powerful force pushed against her two-story home.
"I was sleeping on the upper floor of my house that night. Suddenly I was thrown out of the window and seconds later I didn't know what really happened," the junior high school student said at the local Muhammadiyah Hospital.
She was rescued about 90 minutes after her house had collapsed. Neighbors who rescued her said she was buried with her head facing downward.
She has sustained serious head wounds.
The other two survivors are Mas Soleh, 60 and Sayuti, 65.
According to Rafika, she remembered clearly meeting with an old women in her dreams. "I had just closed my eyes when she came to me. She told me to leave the house quickly or I could be killed. I then woke up. It was only seconds later that the disaster occurred," she recalled.
While Rafika and the two other survivors are in the hospital, the villager rescuers found it difficult to unearth two more bodies believed to have been buried in the area.
Only after they had used a hoe, were the bodies of a brother and sister, Widiatmoko, 6, and Wini Widianti, 14, recovered.
With the discovery of Widiatmoko's and Wini's bodies, all nine people buried by the mud and debris have been unearthed.
Wini and Widiatmoko were the children of Kasidun, who was found dead in the debris on Friday. Kasidun's wife was also killed in the tragedy.
The landslide, which also buried four houses in Penusupan village in the district of Sruweng, Kebumen regency, occurred on Thursday night after hours of torrential rain.
Minister of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure Sunarno, accompanied by Central Java Governor Mardiyanto and Kebumen Regent Rustriningsih visited the accident site on Saturday.
Rustriningsih gave Rp 1 million to the relatives of the victims, while Mardiyanto provided the landslide-hit families Rp 10 million in cash.
"We are going to carry out a feasibility study for the relocation of people living in areas prone to landslides in Banyumas," regent Rustriningsih said, adding that relocation would be the best way to protect the people from the danger of landslides in the future.
Sunarno said that his ministry was ready to help relocate the people.
Many have expressed disappointment that the local administration had failed to take preventive measures, as the area in the southern part of Central Java is vulnerable to landslides and flooding.
In October last year 36 people were buried with their houses in the regency of Brebes and six others were killed in a landslide in Banyumas.
In the regency of Purworejo, 15 people were killed in a landslide in Majenang, Cilacap, also in October last year.
The latest tragedy may reflect the local administration's ignorance, as the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) had just issued warnings to government officials and the public about the possibility of floods and landslides that might hit several areas in the archipelago during the upcoming rainy season.
Observers were worried that a worse disaster could happen due to the fact that illegal logging has been rampant in the area.
The warning signals that landslides might occur had actually appeared hours before, local residents said.
"In the evening a heap of soil behind the mosques fell down. We villagers cleaned it up. None of us was aware of the possible dangers," said Tarmo, a local.
"Not long before the disaster I heard a terrible sound like a big tree being uprooted up there. But as the electricity had totally been cut off that night I did nothing until I was more aware of what was happening."
The most sickening thing was probably the fact that the local administration had planned to inform the Penusupan villagers about the possible landslide.
"We had wanted to meet with the villagers on Friday, but the landslide occurred one day before," Heri Prasetya, the regency spokesman said.