Hundreds of homes in Riau Islands province were hit by widespread flooding over the weekend following heavy rainfall, with disaster authorities recording thousands of people affected by floods and landslides nationwide this month.
series of hydrometeorological disasters hit several regions over the past week as a wetter rainy season due to the La Niña weather phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean brings heavy rainfall across the country.
Torrential downpours from Thursday to Monday in the Riau Islands triggered a landslide in the early hours on Monday at the Tiban Koperasi housing complex in Batam, flattening five houses and leaving four dead.
Later that same day, members of the search and rescue team evacuated 13 out of 17 residents who were trapped under the debris and rushed them to a local hospital for treatment.
The team located and recovered the bodies of the four other victims on Tuesday.
Saugi, a resident of Tiban Koperasi, said the landslide struck at around 1:30 a.m. when most people were asleep.
"We heard a loud [rumbling] sound and when we went outside to check the source of the noise, we saw that the cliff behind the housing complex had collapsed, burying several houses," he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Muhammad Hasbi, head of the Riau Islands Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), said authorities would start distributing essential food supplies and offering trauma counseling to affected residents. The agency would also assist in rebuilding homes destroyed by the landslide, he added.
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