Six killed in landslide, 3 missing

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Six people were killed after a landslide swept away eight houses located on the slope of a deforested hill, Patrol, in Wangonjaya village, Cikalong Wetan regency, near Bandung, late on Monday.

Rescue workers and local residents are still searching for three people missing in the disaster, which took place during heavy rain.

The rescuers recovered on Tuesday the bodies of Yuni, Asep, Riri and Ulfa -- all were children between two and five years old, while the body of Maman, Ulfa's father, was found drifting in a river some 10 kilometers away from the village.

Another resident, 67-year-old Alan, died in a nearby hospital due to severe head injuries.

The missing people are identified as Entang, Maman's wife Nani and Alan's wife Aisyah.

The houses hit by the landslide were located on the slope of a hill, formerly wooded, which had been turned into farmland.

Oleh Solehudin, who lost his daughter Yuni, said that the disaster followed a heavy downpour that started on Monday afternoon.

He was attending a prayer meeting in a nearby village when the landslide demolished his home. He was picked up by his uncle, who told him that his house had been buried by the mudslide.

"It was so dark, I could only shout out my wife's name. Inside my buried home, I heard a gentle voice calling "Bapak, Bapak (father)." I dug in the mud with my hands and discovered my wife and daughter," Solehudin said, crying.

His wife, Neni Nuraeni, survived, despite her injuries. The disaster also claimed the lives of his 10 goats.

Solehudin said that he had never imagined such a disaster could hit his village.

Wangonjaya village head, Mulyono, said it was the first time the village had been swept by a landslide.

"It's a completely natural disaster because our village has not been hit by a landslide for decades," he said. That was why, he said, he did not send out an early warning to the villagers.

Following the disaster, the local volcanology and disaster mitigation office warned of further landslides in areas close to Cikalong Wetan district, located some 60 kilometers west of the West Java capital, Bandung.

The office has listed Cikalong Wetan district as one of 22 landslide-prone districts in Bandung regency.

According to the office, the land in the areas is unstable.

There are 21 other locations in Wangonjaya village alone that are vulnerable to landslide, particularly due to heavy rain that has recently been drenching the regency.

Head of the office Surono told Antara that if rain fell on a fissure near Wangonjaya village, another landslide was likely. He therefore called for villagers living nearby to be relocated.