Three villagers killed and one missing in Nias landslide

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

A boy is missing and three people are dead after a landslide hit the remote Loloana Gido village in Nias island on Saturday, an official says.

Loloana Gido village head Yaaro Waruwu said three members of a family, Hizaato Waruwu, 58, his daughter, Kaseria, 26, and grandchild Yosua, 7, were found dead at the scene. Hizaato's son, Yusman Waruwu, is still missing.

Yaaro said residents had saved three other members of the family, Hizaato's wife, Felena, his daughter, Aleria Waruwu, and grandchild Ernianti Waruwu after they had been buried in the landslide for almost an hour.

Nias deputy regent Agus Mendrova said on Sunday police and locals had searched for 12-year-old Yusman, for about a day but there was no sign of him.

Agus said the size of the landslide had made it difficult for the search team to find the missing boy and the village's remote location meant it was impossible to send heavy machinery there for earth moving.

"The distance from Gunung Sitoli city to the landslide scene is about 32 kilometers. To reach the site, we had to walk about one and a-half hours, climbing. There's no other way," Agus told The Jakarta Post.

He said a communication problem with the village meant he only knew about the disaster on Sunday.

"This is the first landslide following the earthquake (in March). The landslide might have been caused by the heavy rains in the island in the last couple of days, causing landslides in higher ground where land structures are not yet stable after the earthquake," Agus said.

Yaaro said residents were alerted to the landslide, which occurred early in the morning, when they heard a thunderous sound and stones rolled down into the village. The main landslide occurred next, he said.

The dirt had pushed several houses, including Hizaato's, about 20 meters away from their previous locations.

Gido district head Samson P. Zai, said he had told residents living near the landslide area to leave their villages in case there were more slides.