Landslides damage 150 houses

Landslides damage 150 houses

Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post, Kebumen, Central Java

Landslides spread in Kebumen regency, Central Java, damaging
around 150 of houses in two days until Tuesday, officials and
residents said.

However, there were no reports of casualties after the
landslides which hit eight villages in the two subdistricts of
Ayah and Buayan on Monday.

Two other villages were also stricken by a similar disaster on
Tuesday.

"Today, we received a new report from two more villages,
Banjararjo and Argosari, about the landslides. We have sent a
team to the scene," Ayah subdistrict head Sujono told The Jakarta
Post.

He said at least six houses were buried by a landslide in
Banjararjo, while about 30 others were damaged in a similar
disaster in Argosari.

"Landslides are an annual problem here during the rainy season
because most of the area is mountainous," he added.

Sujono said that out of the 18 villages in Ayah, 11 were
vulnerable to landslides.

He and other local officials said that Tuesday's landslides in
the two villages brought the number of houses hit to around 150.

Most of the damaged buildings were located in Ayah
subdistrict, where landslides damaged 130 houses in four villages
Kalibangkang, Srati, Jintung and Watukelir. Some 20 others were
hit by landslides in Buayan subdistrict.

In 2001, landslides killed nine people in Buayan, and three
others in Ayah.

Meanwhile, floods that inundated more than 130 houses in
neighboring districts of Banyumas and Cilacap began to recede
largely on Tuesday.

However, flooding in the subdistrict of Tambak and Sumpiuh,
Banyumas, could worsen due to rainfalls on Tuesday. Most of
farmland there were still submerged.

Tens of affected villagers in Sumpiuh began to suffer from
skin irritation, but the local health office has dispatched a
medical team to provide them with free assistance.

"It (such a disease) is normal because the floods submerge the
wells of the local residents, while they have to use them to
bath, cook and wash," spokesman for the Banyumas regency
administration Purwadi said.

The floods came after most people in Java suffered months of a
devastating drought this year.

Flooding annually hits Banyumas, Kebumen and Cilacap during
the wet season. But since the last four years, landslides began
to take place in the three districts following severe
deforestation there blamed on illegal logging.

However, there were no serious efforts to stop floods and
landslides that often claim the lives of local villages there.
The central government recently banned logging on Java island to
prevent more natural disasters.

Floods and landslides killed at least 50 people in Central
Java between 2000 and 2002, including 12 deaths in Kebumen, 30 in
Brebes regency and six others in Purworejo.