Search for two bodies in Kulonprogo will continue

Search for two bodies in Kulonprogo will continue

Tarko Sudiarno and Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Rescue workers continued their search on Thursday for the
bodies of two victims after landslides killed at least nine
people and severely injured three others in two villages in
Kulonprogo district, Yogyakarta.

The body of a woman, identified as Sowirejo, 78, was unearthed
on Thursday morning. Six others had been recovered earlier on
Wednesday.

Police said the landslides, which were triggered by heavy
rains on Monday and Tuesday, destroyed or damaged at least 20
houses.

Soldiers and local villagers were still searching for the
bodies of two victims, the husband of Ibu Sowirejo and a young
girl, Niken Andriyani. There was no further hope of finding
survivors.

Recovery efforts have been slow as the landslides had
flattened and buried houses and trees in the affected villages of
Kedungrong and Klepu.

The recovery team had to remove several big trees that had
fallen on houses to enable them to unearth the bodies of the
victims, using common tools like crowbars, saws and mattocks.

Modern equipment, such as bulldozers, could not be used as the
roads were too narrow for them to enter the area.

The smell of rotting carcasses of cows and buffaloes believed
to have been buried by the landslides also hampered recovery
efforts.

Kedungrong village head Bengkas Irianto said a landslide hit
the same area three years ago, which left one house destroyed. No
casualties were reported.

"We had actually suggested to village residents then that they
move to a safer area. But they refused because the village is
their birthplace," Bengkas said.

He said his office would call a meeting of 29 families living
in Kedungrong to discuss efforts to prevent further landslides
from occurring.

"If they want to continue staying there, it's up to them. If
they want to migrate to other places, we will help them. But we
will not force them to move," Bengkas said.

Meanwhile, experts from Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University,
Dwikorita and Sumaryono, said at least 20 villages in Samigaluh
subdistrict, Kulonprogo, were prone to landslides and asked
locals to step up alertness when there were heavy rains for more
than two hours.

Landslides have also destroyed 79 houses in two districts in
Banyumas and Cilacap regencies in Central Java province but there
were no reports of casualties.

The disaster has forced hundreds of families to leave their
villages for safer areas.