On Jan. 24, a massive landslide tore through Pasirlangu village in West Bandung, West Java. It buried dozens of homes and claimed the lives of at least 74 people, including Marine Corps personnel who were training in the area.

As rescuers struggle through thick fog and unrelenting rain to find the missing, the echoes of November 2025 are impossible to ignore. The devastation in West Java mirrors the catastrophic floods and landslides triggered by cyclone Senyar in Aceh and North and West Sumatra, disasters that claimed over 1,200 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of others.

Triggered by continuous torrential rains, the landslides striking many parts of the country have been exacerbated by extensive land-use conversion from strategic areas for water conservation and ecosystem balance into housing and other profit-oriented purposes.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s Geological Agency has warned of a rush of residential development, tourism projects and agricultural expansion in West Java, all supported by woefully inadequate drainage systems.

That was also the case of Sumatra last November, where years of massive land conversion for business activities, such as forestry, plantation and mining resulted in devastation.

West Java administration officials vowed to take firm action against those responsible for illegal land use in the water catchment areas. This echoes the central government’s response to the Sumatra disaster by revoking permits for 18 companies linked to environmental degradation.