TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Four die, one missing in landslide
At least four people died and a 4-month-old baby went missing in a landslide that hit Sibio Bio village in Sibabangun, Central Tapanuli, North Sumatra, at 1 a
Change Size
A
t least four people died and a 4-month-old baby went missing in a landslide that hit Sibio Bio village in Sibabangun, Central Tapanuli, North Sumatra, at 1 a.m. on Saturday.
National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on Saturday evening that five houses nestled at the foot of a cliff were buried in the landslide. What was left of the houses was then swept away by a strong current in a nearby river during heavy rain.
The four victims were identified as Saut Marita Zebua, 28, Ariyani Telaumbanua, 20, Dalizato Zebua, 20, Yunita Telaumbanua, 18. Butet, the baby daughter of Dalizato and Yunita, is still missing.
'The search and rescue team removed the bodies of the four victims who died in the landslide. They are still searching the river for the baby. The terrain is difficult as it is hilly and forested,' Sutopo said.
Acting Central Tapanuli regent Syukran Tanjung said the search and rescue team had scoured a 1-kilometer radius from the landslide to the sea in search of the baby on Saturday.
'We will continue the search on Sunday,' he said over the phone on Saturday evening.
He said the bodies of the four victims, who were husbands and wives, were found hugging their partners under the debris and land. They were buried on Saturday.
The mitigation division head of the Central Tapanuli Disaster and Mitigation Agency, Syafaruddin Ananda Nasution, blamed incessant rain over the past two days and deforestation upstream for causing the landslide.
'The cliff above the victims' houses may have collapsed because it no longer had trees,' he said over the phone.
Sutopo said Central Tapanuli experiences landslides that claim lives almost every year. Most fatalities have been low-income families.
Floods and landslides also hit other areas in Sumatra, including Aceh, Agam regency and South Solok regency in West Sumatra and Mukomuko in Bengkulu.
The Aceh Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has urged residents to remain alert as more rain and storms are imminent and could continue until the end of the year.
BNPB data reveals that landslides have claimed the most lives in natural disasters this year. As of this month, there have been 337 landslides that claimed 267 lives.
'There are 274 regencies and cities located in areas that are prone to landslides. As many as 124 million people live in those areas,' he said.
