West Sinjai landslide devastates locals
By Jupriadi
UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): Sadness lingered among residents of the hamlets of Rumbia and Pattiro in Bonto Salama village, West Sinjai district, where a major landslide killed 11 inhabitants on July 3.
The disaster has also caused adversity as it damaged a vast area of paddy fields and plantations as well as other property. To some government officials, the disaster meant a loss of about Rp 4.2 billion (US$626,900), but to the villagers, their livelihood was destroyed.
"It really tore our lives apart," sighed Bandu, a 43-year-old man from Rumbia. "Now we have no rice fields, farms or cattle. Everything is buried in the landslide."
Mounds of mud now buried Bandu's house and all of his belongings. Fortunately, all his family members survived the disaster.
After losing their one-week-old paddy plants, farmers of Rumbia and Pattiro will need at least one year to till the land and plant again while food stocks will not last three months.
"Our supply will not be enough until September, because the crops from the last harvest season have all been sold," Bandu said.
Rumbia and Pattiro were the two most productive villages in West Sinjai district with dominant crops of chocolate, clove and coffee.
Even more saddening for many of the hamlet residents was that rescue workers only managed to recover four of the 11 victims. The landslide claimed Jamari and wife Cace and their six children, Hasir, Hasma, Canni, Cika, Keke and Sanneng while the other three were Pole, wife Nija and son Iwan.
Rescue workers and residents unearthed the two bodies of Cika, 6, and Iwan, 10, on July 5, and found Nija, 42, and Pole, 46, on July 9.
"We really counted on the rescue team to help us. Unfortunately, they were here for only one day, while journalists said the team was supposed to remain here a week," Abdul Rahim, one of Pattiro's community elders, said.
About 1,000 people had to be evacuated due to the threat of more landslides.
Rescuers and residents have had to struggle with the difficult terrain in order to evacuate people. Reporters of The Jakarta Post and private television stations SCTV and RCTI had to walk three hours from Tanalembang, the capital of Bonto Salama village to Rumbia and Pattiro hamlets, across two valleys, through the deep Tangka river and over slippery rocks.
After reaching the villages, one needs to hike for two more hours in order to reach the peak of Palacari mountain through a mud field three kilometers long and about 500 meters wide.
The landslide created a new small river. "Residents are afraid to go there especially when it's raining," 22-year-old Krida, a local guide, said.
Residents' disappointment toward the rescue team's work was clearly stated by one of the family victims, Norma Pole.
"It's such a pity about my parents ... they should be unearthed and given a proper burial," Norma, the only survivor of Pole's family, said.
"The government has really abandoned us here. The incident took place on July 3 but the rescuers were only here on July 8, and that's only because the media reported the disaster. I voted for (ruling party) Golkar and it didn't do any good," Norma said bitterly.
Krida cited an incident when six Japanese tourists were reported missing in Selayar Bay, Sinjai, back in December 1997. Then, the provincial administration and the police went all out to rescue the foreigners.
"But when this landslide incident occurred, the government acted as if they wanted to cover things up," Krida said.
Meanwhile, Diming, the rescue team coordinator, told The Jakarta Post the rescue team had to be withdrawn from the landslide area due to unstable and dangerous ground.
Diming said he did not want to risk the 12 team members' lives because one of the rescuers had broken his leg on the first day of rescue. "We don't want to take any risks. The unstable ground may cause further landslides," Diming said.
Diming said it was useless to continue the search. "All of the missing bodies have probably already decomposed. We found Pole's body with only the skull left.
"This would not have happened if the provincial natural disaster coordinating unit, Satkorlak, had informed us sooner. This is their fault," Diming noted.
Sinjai regent Mohammad Roem and Bonto Salama village chief Ambo Tang acknowledged the disaster team were late in coordinating the rescue.
"Actually we reported the landslide on July 4 but there was no response then. But when there was huge media coverage, we were blamed," Roem said.
Roem said the most important thing now was to resettle residents and send children back to school. "We are visiting the victims of the landslide regularly, in order to ease their pain and may be this will lessen the government's guilt," he said.