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ocal authorities in landslide-prone regions of the country are bracing themselves for the beginning of the rainy season by installing early warning systems (EWS) and conducting campaigns to improve residents'€™ awareness.

In Yogyakarta, the provincial administration has installed hundreds of EWS units in areas considered at risk of landslides as well as those prone to cold lava floods from Mount Merapi.

'€œWe have installed some 300 EWS units to help anticipate [catastrophes] and to minimize casualties,'€ Yogyakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) emergency section head Danang Samsu said on Thursday.

Danang said landslides posed serious threats during the rainy season, as there were many landslide-prone hills in the province, especially in Kulonprogo regency.

Some 200 of the 300 installed EWS units were stationed in Kulonprogo, he added.

Separately, Yogyakarta Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Center (BPPTKG) head I Gusti Made Agung Nandaka said the rainy season could trigger cold lava flows from the slopes of Mt. Merapi, one of the world'€™s most active volcanoes.

After its latest eruption in 2010, Mt. Merapi, according to Nandaka, still has over 40 million cubic meters of volcanic material scattered on its slopes.

'€œMost of it is located on the southern and western slopes of Merapi,'€ Gusti said.

Lahar floods from Merapi had previously damaged hundreds of houses in Sleman regency, Yogyakarta, and Klaten and Magelang regencies in the neighboring Central Java province.

After a prolonged dry season triggered by the El Niño wheather phenomenon, a number of regions in Indonesia entered the rainy season this month.

Earlier this week, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), warned that several parts of the country, including North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Bengkulu, Jambi and South Sumatra, would be prone to floods due to a series of heavy downpours in the regions.

Meanwhile, some other regions, including Bengkulu, Aceh, southern parts of West Java, parts of Central Java and West Nusa Tenggara, were prone to landslides.

To follow up the warning, the Banjarnegara regional administration in Central Java has established so-called disaster resilient community groups in 13 of its 20 districts. Among the 13 districts considered prone to landslides are Punggelan, Sigaluh, Pagedangan, Madukara and Klampok.

Banjarnegara Regent Sutedjo Slamet Utomo said the groups had been tasked with mapping the landslide-prone areas in their respective region and detailing action needed to prevent landslides.

'€œAll the landslide-prone districts in the regency, for example, need gabions to buttress steep slopes in anticipation of landslides,'€ Sutedjo said, adding that his administration had distributed gabions to the areas in need.

Some 70 percent of Banjarnegara lies on hilly terrain, making it prone to landslides, particularly during the rainy season.

The latest deadly landslide in the regency took place in December last year in Jemblung village, Karangkobar district, burying 108 people along with their houses.

Meanwhile in West Sumatra, heavy rain in South Pesisir regency on Wednesday triggered a landslide that blocked the access road to Taratak Tampatih village in Batang Kapas district, leaving more than 800 residents isolated.

'€œThe traffic to the village is still cut off,'€ Zaimal Yunis of Taratak Tempatih told the Antara news agency on Thursday.