TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsUnchecked plantations, construction fuel deadly West Java landslide
Poor oversight of plantations and urban developments have reduced water absorption capacity, a factor academics and environmental groups say contributed to a deadly landslide in Pasirlangu village in West Bandung, West Java.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Ahmad Rohimat, 30, collects belongings from his damaged house following a landslide due to heavy rains in Pasir Langu village, West Bandung regency, West Java province, Indonesia, January 27, 2026. (Reuters/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana)
P
oor oversight of plantations and urban developments in the mountainous northern Bandung region have reduced the area’s water absorption capacity, a factor academics and environmental groups say contributed to a deadly landslide in Pasirlangu village in West Bandung, West Java.
Triggered by heavy rainfall across parts of Java in the past weeks, landslides struck West Bandung on early Saturday at around 3 a.m., burying some 30 homes on the slopes of Mount Burangreng.
As disaster response continued on Tuesday, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) identified 20 fatalities from the 38 body bags recovered, while dozens of people remain missing. Meanwhile, more than 600 residents were forced to flee for their safety.
Environmental group Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) criticized the local government for failing to control extensive land-use conversion in the North Bandung Area, including West Bandung, warning that the resulting loss of water catchment areas worsened the impact of the landslide.
“The landslide in Pasirlangu is the result of years of neglect by both the regency and provincial administrations, which for 15 to 20 years failed to exercise proper control and oversight of the water catchment area,” Walhi’s West Java chapter executive director Wahyudin Iwang told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Read also: Search continues for dozens missing in West Bandung landslide
He said the group had long warned authorities of the risk of allowing property developments for residential and tourism purposes, as well as plantations in the area, many of which he claimed operated with inadequate supervision.
