H

eavy rain and strong winds in Bandar Lampung, on Thursday afternoon caused a wall to collapse, crushing two children, while a landslide in Jayapura, Papua, killed one.

The wall of a futsal court owned by the Lampung Prosecutors’ Office collapsed at around 5:45 p.m. as several elementary school children were returning home after playing soccer in the rain.

Imam Almastada, 11, and Bisma Aldian, 9, of the SD Talang state elementary school, were killed outright.

Despite being severely injured, four other children survived and were taken to Dadi Tjokrodipo General Hospital in Bandar Lampung.

The wall collapsed after it was slammed by 3-meter-high flood-waters as the Way Kuripan River burst its banks after a two-hour downpour.

On Thursday, heavy rains from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. paralyzed main roads when they were engulfed in waters up to 1.5 meters deep. Flooding along Jl. Patimura and Jl. Yos Sudarso reached 2.5 meters, thus submerging thousands of homes up to their roofs.

Bandar Lampung Mayor Herman HN said the current floods in the provincial capital city were the worst in the past three years. “The floods were not as bad now as several years ago. We urge residents living along river banks and low-lying areas to always be alert,” he said on Friday.

Data from Bandar Lampung administration showed that besides 2,700 homes affected by floods, dozens of homes had collapsed as of Friday. Most of the damaged homes were located near river banks.

Mukri Friatna, a campaign manager with the Lampung chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said the floods in Bandar Lampung were triggered by damage to the Gunung Betung catchment area and poor drainage.

“Bandar Lampung has no more catchment areas. The Gunung Betung forest wetland is severely damaged, while the urban forest has been converted into business areas. Dozens of hills are damaged. The condition in Bandar Lampung is worse than Jakarta,” said Mukri.

Meanwhile, heavy rains from Wednesday afternoon until early Thursday triggered a landslide at Jayapura’s BTN Social residential area in Dok III.

The landslide buried a home owned by Fransisco Hitjaubessi, killing his child Koce Hitjaubessi.

The landslide, which occurred at 12:15 a.m. on Thursday, was first discovered by Toro, 51, the victim’s neighbor.

“Toro heard the sound of the landslide at the back of his home. He then went outside to check. Not long after, Titin, Fransisco’s wife, cried for help saying her home was buried by the landslide. Toro then rushed to his neighbors’ house to help,” said Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. I Gede Sumertha on Thursday.

Fransisco was not home as he was on duty as a watchman at the Papua Disaster Mitigation Agency.

Titin and her two children, Dita, 7, and Nando, 3, came out of their room crying for help, while other tenants, Atik, 47, Koce, 4, and Marsya, 2, were sleeping in the guest room that was buried in the landslide.

Sumertha said when Toro arrived at the house, the guest room was already covered by landslide, and the three people were still inside. Toro then called another neighbor, Said Dimara, to help pull the victims out of the debris.

At 3 a.m., rescuers managed to free all three victims, though Koce had already succumbed to her injuries. Atik and Marsya were rushed to the Dok II Hospital in Jayapura.