Landslide Debris Remains Uncleared, Durian Village Residents Demand PTPN IV Accountability
Four months after a landslide disaster struck Durian Village, Batu Godang District, Angkola Sangkunur Sub-district, South Tapanuli Regency, North Sumatra, the impact of the disaster remains visible in the residential area. Piles of soil material that buried the region have still not been moved to date.
Landslide material, suspected to originate from PTPN IV Regional I Batangtoru’s plantation area, specifically from Hapesong Plantation, remains stacked around residents’ homes. This condition not only disrupts community activities but also raises concerns about potential secondary disasters.
For Durian Village residents, the November 2025 landslide is not merely a natural disaster. The incident left deep sorrow after claiming the lives of residents and damaging numerous homes and community land.
However, to date, residents believe there have been no concrete steps from the company to clear the landslide material or restore the post-disaster environmental conditions.
Rudy, 37, a family member of a victim, expressed disappointment over the slow handling of remaining landslide material still present around their settlement.
“The soil comes from PTPN IV’s plantation area. We have lost a family member because of this disaster, but until now there has been no serious response,” Rudy told journalists on Friday (13 March) via telephone.
Residents’ suspicion has turned towards changes in land management in the plantation area. In recent years, the company is known to have converted land from rubber cultivation to palm oil at the Hapesong Plantation.
According to residents, during decades of living in the area, they never experienced such an incident. “Our parents have lived here since 1956 and there has never been a landslide. Only after the plantation land was converted from rubber to palm oil did this disaster befall our village,” said one resident.
Community complaints were actually submitted to the company. Residents claimed they sent a message via WhatsApp to Amanda Surya, identified as an Assistant at PTPN IV Regional I Batangtoru, requesting that the company immediately move the pile of landslide soil from the residential area.
Residents even planned to move the soil material to the company’s General Manager’s office if not handled promptly. However, according to residents, the message was only answered with a thumbs-up emoji and a GIF reading “Excellent, Amazing”.
Meanwhile, young lawyer Febri Alamsyah Lubis from South Tapanuli region believes the company should not shirk responsibility for the disaster’s impact on the community.
He explained that such responsibility is regulated under Article 1365 of the Indonesian Civil Code, which states that any unlawful act that causes loss to others obligates the offending party to compensate for the loss.