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A perfect storm: Indonesia braces for more disasters amid COVID-19, plane investigation
Meteorologists warn of extreme weather and more natural disasters as response efforts are strained by the pandemic and an investigation into the Sriwijaya plane crash.
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Joint search and rescue personnel look for landslide victims in Cimanggung district, Sumedang regency, West Java on Jan. 11. A series of landslides occurring in the district claimed the lives of at least 19 people, including several rescuers who were evacuating people already buried in a landslide. (Antara/Novrian Arbi)
W
ith the COVID-19 outbreak persisting nearly a year since it was first discovered in Indonesia, and in the midst of a massive airplane crash investigation, disaster response officials must gear up for the possibility of natural disasters as the country enters the peak of the rainy season.
On the very same day that news broke about the sudden disappearance of Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182 off the coast of Jakarta on Saturday, a series of landslides in Sumedang, West Java wreaked havoc and devastated dozens of families, with at least 16 dead and 23 more still missing.
Even before the airplane took off and plunged into the sea with 62 people on board mere minutes later, the flight was delayed for about an hour due to heavy rain. The real cause of the crash is still under investigation.
Read also: Hunt for crashed Sriwijaya Air cockpit tapes suspended due to bad weather
The cause of the Sumedang landslides, however, was more straightforward.
Following heavy rainfall that began in the afternoon, the first landslide occurred at around 4 p.m. when a 20-meter cliff in Cihanjuang village in Sumedang regency’s Cimanggung district collapsed and buried 14 houses beneath it. When a search-and-rescue team was evacuating victims from the houses, another landslide occurred at 6:30 p.m. at the same location, killing several members of the SAR team.
Barely a week later, at least three people were killed and large buildings including a hotel collapsed when a 6.2-magnitude earthquake rocked Sulawesi island on Friday, AFP reported. The epicenter was 36 kilometers south of Mamuju, the capital of West Sulawesi, and the quake had a depth of 18 km, the United States Geological Survey said.
