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.