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Jakarta Post

Search called off, 13 still missing in Banjarnegara landslide

A joint search and rescue (SAR) team at the site of the recent landslide in Banjarnegara, Central Java, ceased work on Sunday, declaring 13 residents still missing in the disaster

Agus Maryono (The Jakarta Post)
BANJARNEGARA, Central Java
Mon, December 22, 2014

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Search called off, 13 still missing in Banjarnegara landslide

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joint search and rescue (SAR) team at the site of the recent landslide in Banjarnegara, Central Java, ceased work on Sunday, declaring 13 residents still missing in the disaster.

As of Sunday, the SAR team in total had removed 95 bodies from the landslide that hit Jemblung village, Sampang subdistrict, Karangkobar district on Dec. 12, burying alive 108 residents, along with 53 houses.

Two last bodies were found on Sunday; both had already severely deteriorated and were difficult to identify.

Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo said that among the reasons that search efforts were stopped was the rain that continued to fall over Banjarnegara.

'€œMany of the SAR team members were concerned about their safety while in the field because of possible landslides. Their safety is our concern,'€ Ganjar told The Jakarta Post over the phone, Sunday.

Apart from that, Ganjar said, as it had been over a week since the landslide hit the region, the bodies they found were generally severely decomposed, meaning they were hard to identify and were also considered a danger to the health of the SAR team and volunteers.

'€œBased on an agreement made by all parties including Jemblung residents, we declare the search for the victims officially finished today,'€ Ganjar said.

Residents wanting to search for victims on their own, he added, were welcome to but were advised to be cautious.

'€œIn principle, priority has to be given to the safety of the survivors,'€ he said.

Separately, SAR team coordinator Lt. Col. Edi Rohmatulloh said that scores of dead animals and damaged vehicles were also found during the removal of victims'€™ bodies from the landslide site.

'€œWe found 14 damaged motorcycles and 15 cars,'€ said Edi, adding that most of the vehicles had local registration-plate numbers.

Meanwhile, some 300 evacuees from the landslide area were still being accommodated in a number of evacuation centers.

The local administration has planned to relocate them to a number of places not far from their home village.

The administration plans to build 82 houses for the evacuees, with a budget of Rp 10 billion coming from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) and the Central Java and Banjarnegara Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD).

Meanwhile, the BNPB has extended the emergency status at Banjarnegara until Jan. 4, 2015.

'€œThe emergency status at Banjarnegara, which would have ended on Dec. 21, has been extended for 14 days. This new emergency period will begin Dec. 22 and will go on until Jan. 4, 2015,'€ Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, head of the BNPB'€™s Public Relations, Data and Information Center, said in a statement on Saturday.

Emergency operations such as searching for survivors, removing victims'€™ bodies, helping refugees and making preparations to relocate survivors have been carried out since Dec. 13.

Some 1,145 refugees have been accommodated in 10 evacuation shelters. The Social Affairs Ministry and the BPBD, along with volunteers, have set up a public kitchen to provide evacuees with food.

Moreover, the Public Works Ministry deployed 15 pieces of heavy machinery to clear 300-meter stretches of roads as they were covered with mud and debris, ranging in depth from two to three meters.

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