At least 300 people in an Indonesian village in central Java
have probably been buried and killed by a landslide unleashed by
heavy rain, the UN said.
A torrent of mud slammed into Sijeruk village, 370 kilometers
(230 miles) east of Jakarta.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) in Geneva said in a statement that "local authorities fear
at least 300 people" were buried in Sijeruk.
Local officials also said the landslide covered about six
hectares (15 acres) and that the mud was up to five meters (16
feet) deep.
Television footage showed only the tops of tiled roofs of some
houses visible, along with smashed timber debris and other
semi-flattened brick and concrete homes.
The landslide -- which hit the village at about 5:00 AM
Wednesday (22:00 GMT Tuesday) after three days of monsoon rains --
was the second disaster this week to hit the island of Java, caused
by monsoon rains and, activists charged, deforestation.
In the district of Jember, about 800 kilometers east of Jakarta,
flash flooding has killed 77 people since Saturday, "including 71
in the sub-district of Panti, the area most affected by the
torrential rain," the UN office said.
According to OCHA, 9,500 people have been left homeless in the
district, and nearly 7,000 are living in temporary camps.
In Sijeruk, local chief of police operations Budi said about 150
police and soldiers were involved in rescue operations, which were
halted overnight and set to resume early Thursday.
A district welfare official, Umar Yulianto, said late Wednesday
that the confirmed death toll stood at 16. Local television said
some 300 people were thought missing.
Environmentalists blamed both disasters on rampant illegal
logging as well as land conversion for farming on Java, one of the
world's most densely populated islands, and called on the
government to take action.
"We can look forward to another disaster if they don't stop
(deforestation) and if they don't reforest areas with original
species to make new natural forests," Greenpeace Southeast Asia
forestry campaigner Hapsoro told AFP.
"This is a sign for the Indonesian government to be more
serious."
(Chinadaily.com via agencies January 5, 2006)
