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.