Landslide kills 10 in Kuningan, W. Java

Landslide kills 10 in Kuningan, W. Java

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Kuningan, West Java

Rescue workers and local villagers continued on Saturday the
search for the two remaining bodies of at least 10 people killed
in a landslide that buried their houses in Cantilan village, in
the West Java town of Kuningan.

The tragedy early Friday came after a deadly landslide in
Garut regency, to the southwest of Kuningan, claimed the lives of
at least 21 people three days earlier.

One person was also injured in the landslide in Kuningan, when
it swept down on four houses at 12:30 a.m. in the hamlet of Belah
in Selajambe subdistrict, some 60 kilometers south of Cirebon,
when local residents were still asleep.

The landslide, carrying mud from Mount Jaga, destroyed three
of the houses and swept away five electricity poles, cutting the
power supply to the village and to other neighboring villages.

The landslide also cut off the roads connecting Kuningan and
Selajambe, as well as another subdistrict of Subang.

Cantilan village head Diding Amin Suryadi said eight of the 10
dead had so far been recovered from the debris. "Seven bodies
were recovered on Friday and another on Saturday," he told The
Jakarta Post at the scene.

The dead victims were members of two families, and were
identified as: Yoyoh, 28, her daughter Elis, 7, and her
six-month-old baby Septa; and Sunadi, 45, his wife Liyah, 35,
their four children, Nani Suryani, 12, Ririn, 9, Jejen, 7, and
Agus, 6, and Sunadi's 70-year-old mother Karsih.

Yoyoh's husband, Muhammad Sholeh, 45, is being treated in the
intensive care unit at Kuningan General Hospital for serious
wounds.

"All the recovered eight bodies have been buried by local
villagers," Diding said.

Rescuers, police and military personnel, along with hundreds
of volunteer villagers, were searching for the bodies of Ririn
and Karsih. It is believed they had either been buried by the mud
or drowned in the nearby Cijolang River.

"The missing bodies are most likely buried in the 10-meter
deep mud," First Insp. Sukirman, who is leading the rescue team,
told the Post.

Deforestation from illegal logging is being blamed for some of
the recent landslides that have occurred in many areas across the
country, including Tuesday's disaster in Garut, but Kuningan
Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Hasanudin did not consider it a
factor in Cantilan.

He said the landslide, triggered by days of torrential rains,
was "purely a natural disaster".

"So far, we haven't found any evidence of human error, such as
clearing the land or other activities that have damaged the
forest. The investigation showed the geologic conditions of the
affected village and neighboring areas to be unstable and highly
prone to landslides during heavy rains," he said.

Diding confirmed that the landslide followed a week of
rainstorms. "The heaviest rain started late Thursday afternoon,
about nine hours before the disaster," he added.

He said Friday's landslide was the latest to hit Cantilan
after 1982, when a similar disaster destroyed 12 houses.

Sutini, a 45-year-old local villager, recalled that when the
landslide hit, she had not yet gone to bed because she was
disturbed by the sounds of rain and strong winds.

Exactly at 12:30 a.m., she heard a sudden thunder, which was
shortly followed by a blackout, she said.

"The thunder sounded very loud. And I heard cries of people
asking for help. It awakened the other villagers, who rushed to
the cries and found a blanket of mud from Mount Naga," she added.

Kuningan Regent Arifin Setiamihardja, who visited the scene on
Friday, said he had ordered the evacuation of all 43 families, or
136 people, from the village to safer areas to protect them from
further landslides.

The local health office would set up a branch post and a
kitchen to serve those residents being evacuated to the village
hall, the Cantilan elementary school and the safe houses of
neighbors, he added.

"We don't want to take any risks. The evacuation is to prevent
more victims. We have coordinated with the water management to
supply clean water, and local military and police officers to
ensure security for the safe houses," Arifin said.