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At least five dead, seven missing after West Java floods, landslides
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) is pushing for a joint search and rescue team to use all necessary means to find the seven missing people by next week.
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Children play near an area affected by flooding on Dec. 5, 2025, in Sukabumi regency, West Java. Heavy rainfall triggered floods and landslides in several locations across the regency that killed at least five people and left seven missing, according to data from authorities as of Dec. 6. (Antara/Iman)
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t least seven people are missing following floods and landslides that hit Sukabumi regency, West Java in the past week, while authorities said at least five villagers lost their lives during the disaster.
Four of the people who died were from Simpenan district, while the other was from Ciemas district, according to data from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) as per Friday morning. The districts were among the hardest-hit areas, with landslides and flash floods affecting dozens of homes and more than 240 people.
“Since we still have some people missing, I urge the joint search and rescue team to work harder in looking for these people. Use heavy machinery if necessary,” BNPB head Suharyanto said in a statement issued on Friday.
The search and rescue team has seven days to locate the missing people. Should the joint personnel be unable to locate them by next week, the disaster agency chief instructed local authorities to discuss the matter with their relatives.
“If they want the search to be continued, go ahead. We’ll try as hard as we can,” Suharyanto said.
He also pushed for the construction of temporary bridges to open access to cut-off villages as floods and landslides damaged roads and bridges, so authorities can deliver humanitarian aid to the affected villagers.
Personnel from the BNPB, the Social Affairs Ministry’s Disaster Emergency Response Unit (Tagana), the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), the Indonesian Military (TNI) as well as local police and officials are distributing aid to affected residents.
Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka visited an emergency shelter on Friday in Sukamaju village. He ordered authorities to work as hard as they can to fulfill the evacuees’ basic needs, such as food, clean water and medicine.
Suharyanto said that Tagana officials had set up public kitchens to ensure the fulfillment of basic needs for more than 300 people taking shelter in safer places.
Heavy rains hitting the regency on Tuesday and Wednesday had caused at least 33 severe weather events in 22 districts across Sukabumi, most of which were landslides and floods.
The regency administration had declared a state of emergency that will take effect for seven days to push for the mitigation of the disasters’ impact.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) forecast that most parts of the country are entering the rainy season with a 20 percent increase in rainfall intensity because of La Niña, which usually brings a wetter rainy season to the archipelago.
The rainy season was expected to peak in late December for most parts of Sumatra and southern Java, while the peak will likely arrive in January to areas in central and northern Java. (kuk)
