West Sinjai landslide devastates locals

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.