Rainy season death toll rises

KUDUS. One person has died and several others are missing following a landslide in Kudus, Central Java, on Wednesday. Thousands more people have been evacuated from their homes in other flood-related incidents across the country.

Only one body has been found following the landslide that occurred in Kambangan village on the slopes of Mount Rahtawu on Wednesday morning, while one other victim was pulled out alive from the debris and 10 people are still missing.

The body of Sulasmi, 50, was found in the ruins of her bedroom. “Her body was buried in mud,” Subagyo, a local resident, said.

Wednesday’s landslide was not the first. On Tuesday night, an earlier landslide hit the village but locals managed to escape with their lives because they were still awake when the rumbling sounds from the landslide were first heard.

This was not the case for Wednesday’s landslide, which occurred when people were sleeping, and had no chance to escape.

Nine houses collapsed and 400 people from Kambangan were evacuated over fears that more landslides would hit the village. “Their houses are located near the affected area, which is why they were evacuated,” Menawan subdistrict head Mohammad Solikin said.

Earlier, 19 people died as a result of a landslide and flooding in Manado and surrounding areas in North Sulawesi, while four people died due to flooding in Indramayu, West Java, and four others died as a result of flooding in Jakarta.

Meanwhile, rain has been falling over Kudus since last Friday, triggering landslides in at least eight locations across the regency.

The same heavy rains have also hit the province’s northern coastal area, causing floods since Friday across Brebes, Tegal, Batang, Pekalongan, Kendal, Semarang, Demak, Jepara and Pati.

Kudus Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) recorded that a total of over 3,500 people had been displaced by floods in the regency. Floods also submerged 2,400 houses in Demak and displaced 6,000 people in Jepara.

Data from the Central Java Health Agency showed that, as of Tuesday, 256 subdistricts in 61 districts across 12 regencies and municipalities were affected by floods.

Meanwhile in Karawang, West Java, more than 10,000 people have taken refuge from flooding this week, as reported by Antara news agency.

They have sought shelter in several villages, including Segaran village in Batujaya district, Pegadungan and Jayanegara villages in Tempuran district, as well as Karawang public park, Al Jihad Mosque and the regency’s Social Affairs Agency hall.

Heavy rain for two consecutive days in East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), has also caused floods in a number of villages in five subdistricts of Sambelia district.

At least 116 families, or 651 people, fled their homes because of the flooding, which also damaged 70 hectares of agricultural land including ready-to-harvest rice fields.

 “Emergency response aid, including tents and food supplies, has been sent to the affected areas,” East Lombok BPBD head Abdul Hakim said on Wednesday.

Hakim said public kitchens and emergency toilets had also been established at the affected sites.

As of Wednesday, he added, a large number of families from two villages in Darakuci subdistrict were still unable to evacuate because the roads into the villages were damaged as a result of the flooding.

Separately, in Yogyakarta, business have been complaining of decreased tourist visits due to the floods that have been hitting different regions of Indonesia for the last few weeks.

Windarti, who manages an inn and restaurant at Parangtritis Beach, Bantul, Yogyakarta, said the occupancy rate of her inn had decreased by 60 percent over the last two weeks, blaming the decrease on the floods.

Chairman of the Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association’s (PHRI) Yogyakarta provincial branch, Deddy Pranowo, shared the same view.

 “Floods really affect tourist visits. According to our estimate, tourist visits have decreased by 10 percent,” Deddy said on Wednesday.

The figure, he said, was estimated based on the number of cancellations recorded by travel agencies and hotels in Yogyakarta. (Suherdjoko and Panca Nugraha)