Floods in southern Kalimantan have killed more than a dozen people and displaced tens of thousands. Rescue workers are still searching for several missing and feared people buried under the mud ten days after landslides tore through a village in West Java. And divers are still searching for victims and important information in the wreckage of Sriwijaya Air Flight 182, which crashed into the Java Sea on January 9, with 62 people on board.
Meanwhile, two volcanoes on the populous island of Java are spewing ash into the air, with hundreds of people evacuated from the slopes of Mount Merapi over the past few weeks.
Seventy-three people were killed in Friday’s earthquake in the city of Mamuju, north of the epicenter, while another 11 were killed in Majene, a city about 200 kilometers south of Mamuju. Thousands of residents fled their homes to seek safety, but according to local search and rescue teams, many were still trapped under collapsed buildings.
At least 253 people were seriously injured and another 679 sustained minor injuries, said Raditya Jati of the National Disaster Management Council in Indonesia. The quake also caused a power outage and caused three landslides along the highway connecting Majene and Mamuju.
The earthquake created an additional headache for a country that already has a severe coronavirus outbreak. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, Indonesia has reported at least 907,929 cases of Covid-19 and nearly 26,000 related deaths.
The head of Indonesia’s disaster management agency, Doni Monardo, said on Sunday that rapid antigen testing kits were being provided to evacuation centers to investigate the possible transmission of Covid-19 among the 19,435 people displaced by the quake.
“Later, there will be an antigen-suppression process to ensure that refugees are not exposed to Covid-19,” Doni said. He added that relocation centers were asked to separate vulnerable groups of young people to prevent the virus from spreading.
The Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency of Indonesia has warned that aftershocks may still occur, and urges those living in hilly areas to be aware of landslides. People living near the coast have also been warned to stay away from the beach in case of tsunamis.
Meanwhile, rescue teams continued to liberate people trapped under collapsed buildings at various locations across Mamuju – including two hotels and a hospital. “People are reporting that their family members are trapped under collapsed houses and are asking for help,” Ariyanto Ardi, head of the local disaster management department, told CNN on Saturday.
“We do not yet have details on how many people are buried under the flat buildings,” he added.
Across the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire”, Indonesia – a country with high tectonic activity – is regularly hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. In 2018, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake and the ensuing tsunami hit the city of Palu in Sulawesi, killing thousands of people.
Mount Merapi, the most active volcano in Indonesia, erupted again on January 4. Since then, 500 people living on or near its fertile slopes have been evacuated, according to the local disaster management of the Magelang district.
On Monday, Merapi continued to spew lava as warm clouds and as 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) of air rose, according to the Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Relief. According to the agency, six lava flows can be seen, coming down 600 meters into the southwestern slope.
Also on Java Island, the highest volcano Mount Semeru in Indonesia, lava, ash and smoke began to spew out on Saturday.
Floods and landslides
Floods caused by heavy rains in the southern Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo this week have killed at least 15 people and displaced more than 100,000 people.
According to Raditya of the disaster management agency, water up to 1.5 meters flooded more than 20,000 homes in ten districts in the province.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited the flood-stricken areas on Monday while rescue teams distributed aid, including food, sails and blankets, to those in need.
Separately, at least six people were killed Saturday in floods and landslides in Manado City, North Sulawesi.
The Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics has warned that more rain could follow, saying the region is in the middle of the rainy season, which will last until February.
Meanwhile, rescue workers continue to search for victims through the mud and rubble ten days after a landslide caused by heavy rain and unstable ground conditions tore through the town of Cihanjuang in the West Java province. On Monday, four bodies were pulled from the mud, which increased the death toll to 33. Rescue workers are searching for four people who are still missing, according to the West Java Search and Rescue Agency.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands, regularly suffers from floods and landslides, especially during the rainy season from November to March. In December 2019 and January 2020, severe floods in Jakarta caused by the worst rainfall recorded, flooded parts of the capital and affected more than 400,000 people.
Experts have expressed concern that such extreme weather could become a new norm due to the climate crisis.
Sriwijaya Lugongeluk
In another disaster that rocked the country in Southeast Asia, divers continue their search for the wreckage of Sriwijaya Air Flight 182, while authorities continue their investigation into the cause of the crash.
On Friday, search teams tracked down the plane’s voice recorder, but the memory unit was not involved, Soerjanto Tjahjono, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Committee, told CNN.
Despite the missing memory unit, Soerjanto said they believe they will still be able to retrieve data.
The committee also successfully downloaded the information found in the recycled flight data recorder, which was found by divers and a remote-operated underwater vehicle last week.
“There are 330 parameters and all of them are in good condition. We are currently studying them,” said Soerjanto.
The findings from the data for recording flight data have so far confirmed that the two engines were still operating when the aircraft was in the water.
It also continues to find and identify those who perished on board. On Sunday, divers retrieved 10 bags of human remains as well as pieces and debris from the plane itself.
Masrur Jamaluddin reports from Jakarta, writes Helen Regan from Hong Kong. CNN’s Julia Hollingsworth and Yosef Riadi reported.