T

he West Java Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) has declared the location of Monday’s landslide in Nagrok, Cililin district, West Bandung regency, West Java, unsuitable for settlement and has said residents need to be relocated.

“If we don’t relocate the residents, it would be the same as killing them,” BPBD chief Sigit Udjwalprana said on Tuesday at the landslide location.

He added that relocation would only be carried out after the seven-day emergency response period was over.

During this period, manpower would be concentrated on finding any victims buried by the landslide, he went on.

The landslide took place at about 5:30 a.m. on Monday and buried 17 residents as well as nine houses and a mosque.

Sigit said the evacuation was stopped at 4 p.m. on Tuesday due to bad weather. He said it would be very dangerous to the 300 rescue workers to continue searching for victims as there might be further landslides.

“We managed to find eight bodies on Monday and on Tuesday we found one body as well as one head and one thigh,” he added.

To prevent further disaster, the West Java and West Bandung BPBDs have evacuated some 70 residents living near the landslide, with the slope between 40 and 45 degrees.

Relocation, according to Sigit, could only be done when the West Bandung regency administration had found land for the residents. The BPBD’s would assist in the building of new houses for the residents. — JP