JAKARTA, Indonesia – Two landslides caused by heavy rainfall and unstable ground have killed at least 12 people on Java, Indonesia’s populated island, and rescue workers in search of survivors, disaster officials said Sunday.
Among the victims of the landslides in the province of West Java were the head of a local disaster relief agency and a captain of the Indonesian army who helped rescue survivors of the first landslide on Saturday afternoon. They were caught in a second landslide that night.
The landslides also destroyed a bridge and cut off several roads in the town of Cihanjuang in West Java. Rescue workers worked until nightfall, but they urgently needed heavy machinery to help move the earth and reach any possible survivors.
“The first landslide was caused by high rainfall and unstable soil conditions,” said Raditya Jati, spokeswoman for the National Disaster Management Agency. “Subsequent landslides occurred while officers evacuated more victims in the first landslide area.”
Deadly landslides are common in Indonesia, where deforestation and illegal small-scale gold mining often contribute to unstable soil conditions.
The president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, warned in October that the country could experience more floods and landslides due to the periodic weather pattern known as La Niña. The rainy season is expected to last until March.
“I want us all to prepare in anticipation of possible hydrometeorological disasters,” the president said at the time.
A local disaster official said rescuers were still trying to determine by Sunday afternoon how many people were missing. Eighteen people were injured.
A video of the scene showed a river of mud plowing through a dense neighborhood, which apparently crushed and covered a number of buildings.
One video clip of the scene provided by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed rescuers working at night, lifting and carrying a corpse to a stretcher.
Another one showed how a backhoe lifts a muddy pickup truck so rescuers can reach the ground beneath it. The pickup said ‘Fight Virus’ on the back.
The first landslide hit the town hours after a Sriwijaya Air passenger plane crashed into the Java Sea during takeoff from Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, in heavy rain, killing all 62 on board.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,500 islands lying across the equator, was once covered by vast rainforests. But over the past half century, many of the forests have been burned and laid out to pave the way for palm plantations and other agricultural land.
With 270 million people, Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world and Java, the most populous island, is home to more than 140 million.