Sukabumi Landslide Death Toll Reaches 32

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Rescue workers have found 32 bodies of 33 victims of landslide that hit Garehong area of Sirnaresmi Village, Cisolok Subdistrict, Sukabumi District, West Java Province, a week ago, a local military officer said.

Therefore, the rescue workers still attempted to search for one more victim, believed to remain buried near the one that they had evacuated on Sunday, Chief of 061/Suryakencana Resort Military Command Colonel M Hasan said.

The last corpse that the joint SAR team, whose members come from the military, police, national SAR agency, disaster mitigation agency, and volunteers, evacuated on Sunday morning, could not yet be identified, he said.

Read also: High Rainfalls Cause Flooding and Landslides in Jayapura

Sukabumi District is just one of the areas in West Java, which are prone to natural disasters.

According to the West Java Provincial Disaster Mitigation Agency, a total of 1,561 natural disasters had occurred in different parts of the province throughout 2018, killing 50 people and affecting 75,706 residents.

The head of the agency`s rehabilitation and reconstruction division, Budi Budiman Wahyu, explained recently that landslides dominated the catastrophes, followed by house fires, whirlwinds, flooding, forest and bush fires, and earthquakes.

As a result of 544 landslides, 434 house fires, 286 whirlwinds, 149 floods, 141 forest and bush fires, and two earthquakes that occurred last year, 50 people died, 75,706 others were affected, and 31,474 houses were damaged and destroyed, he noted.

ANTARA