Breaking: Landslides bury 60, kill 5 in Indonesia
Flooding in Bandung – photo by andhikanugraha (source: Flickr Creative Commons)
Several days of heavy rain in parts of Java – Indonesia’s main island – have resulted in deadly landslides killing 5 people, with at least 60 remaining buried under mud. Thousands of Indonesians have been made homeless due to recent flooding on Java.
The latest landslide happened on a tea plantation in a mountainous village in the Ciwidey district, near West Java’s capital city Bandung. According to the AFP the landslide occurred at 8 am local time. The village – named Tenjoljaya – is located about 90 miles (145 km) south of Jakarta.
The Red Cross said about 500 villagers who lost their homes have been evacuated to temporary shelters in neighboring villages.
The terrain is mountainous and local villagers only had farm tools and their bare hands to dig with. A Red Cross helicopter with digging equipment is being sent to the site on Wednesday.
Thousands of people have been forced out of their homes by flooding in Bandung and Jakarta over the past two weeks… Some parts of Bandung district have seen the worst flooding in eight years, inundating some 10,000 houses, according to state-run Antara news agency.
–AFP
Landslides are a major problem in Indonesia especially during monsoon season. Unrestrained development and extensive illegal logging are believed to exacerbate flooding and landslides because they disturb areas of natural drainage and rainwater collection.
by Graham Land
additional resources:
Can climate change affect natural disasters?
Graham Land grew up in Washington, D.C., where he was part of the local hardcore punk scene. Through this unique musical movement he became involved in grass roots anti-racist activism, animal rights and Ecology. Since 2000 Graham has lived in Europe, earning an MA in history from Malmö University in Sweden and working as a musician, English teacher, sports therapist, customer service agent and writer. Graham has a podcast with author Saci Lloyd and is currently pretending to work on his first novel.
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Tags: AFP, Bandung, flooding, Indonesia, Java, landslide, Red Cross
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