Scientists ‘trace’ landslide back to 2009 earthquake

A team of scientists says last week’s landslide in Ciwidey, Bandung regency, was caused by a
fissure that formed in the wake of the magnitude-7.3 earthquake in nearby Tasikmalaya on Sept. 2
last year.

Team leader Gatot M. Sudrajat, from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s Geological Survey, said Wednesday the landslide was a natural disaster and not caused by human activity.

Forty-four people are believed to have been killed in the incident, but rescue workers have recovered only 33 bodies. The search for bodies was called off Monday.

Gatot added the deforested state of the Mount Tilu area where the landslide took place had not contributed to the disaster.

“Fissures were formed at several points in the southern part of Bandung, including in Pangalengan and Ciwidey, all with the potential to trigger landslides, particularly if coupled with heavy rain,” he said.

He added the area’s geological features made it a high-risk area for landslides, pointing out a
similar disaster had previously occurred in the same spot as last week’s incident.

“We can’t say exactly when that earlier landslide occurred, but the area is an ancient landslide-prone site,” Gatot said.

The team’s analysis contradicted an earlier statement made by the Geological Survey’s head, R. Sukhyar.

Sukhyar had said the clearing of forests in the area to make way for tea plantations was the main factor causing the disaster.

“Forest vegetation grows stronger and deeper roots than tea bushes,” he said.

“With the latter, when a quake is followed by heavy rains, the soil shifts easily.”

Sukhyar, who put together the team of scientists surveying the site, said he had not been informed about the fissure.

The landslide also buried the homes of plantation workers at the Dewata tea plantation in Tenjolaya village, Ciwidey.

Industry insiders say the incident will not impact the province’s overall tea production.

“The tea grown at Dewata is for export, not the domestic market, so volume-wise it’s quite small and thus won’t have an impact on tea production,” Endang Sopari, deputy head of the Indonesian Tea Association’s West Java office, said Tuesday in Bandung.

He added tea production in the province was rising by about 10 percent a year to meet growing demand.

“The biggest increase in production comes from community-based tea farmers and the [state-owned] National Tea Plantation Company, which account for a combined 80 percent of production volume,” Endang said.

He added community-based tea production in 2008 was 1,500 tons of dried leaves, and increased to 2,780 tons in 2009.

This year, the association estimates production volume of at least 3,000 tons.

“The production increase in due to heightened demand,” he said.