Jakarta Globe 28 Mar 10;
Torrential rain caused a landslide in Central Bengkulu on Sumatra Island on Saturday evening, blocking a major road connecting Bengkulu city and Taba Penanjung and delaying motorists.
There have been several landslides in the area over the past two weeks due to heavy rain that has drenched the area.
Motorist Mardi Cipto said he couldn’t take his family to Jambi due to the landslide.
“It is better to return to Bengkulu today rather than being trapped in this uncertain situation,” he said.
The roads in hilly areas in the Central Bengkulu and Kepahiang districts are particularly vulnerable to landslides during the rainy season.
On Saturday evening, local authorities deployed an excavator to clean up the affected road.
Over the past weeks, torrential rains have caused floods and landslides throughout the Indonesian archipelago. The Karawang area in West Java and the Sarolangun district in Jambi Province, Sumatra have suffered from flooding.
A total of 2,674 buildings in Sarolangun district were submerged after the Batanghari River overflowed last Tuesday.
On the same day, floods inundated around 7,000 houses in the subdistricts of Baleendah, Dayeuhkolot and Bojongsoang in Bandung district, following the Citarum River breaching its banks. On March 11, a landslide hit Ciawitali hamlet in Cianjur, West Java, destroying five houses and killing 10 people.
Meanwhile in Karawang, the floodwaters that inundated the area last week began to recede on Saturday.
But the flood victims kept their possession stored at temporary shelters or the houses or relatives, in case the area was flooded again.
“I am still traumatized by this ongoing flooding, said 41-year-old Dayat, a resident of Karawang whose house in the Bintang Alam housing complex was flooded.
“ I think it is better to secure my belongings here in my relative’s house instead of bringing them back to my home,” Dayat said.
Nana, another Karawang resident, was less fortunate than Dayat.
The 30-year-old man said he was too late in moving his belongings when the floods hit his neighborhood.
On the day the floods hit his area, he was working in Jakarta. “My wife and children did not immediately take our belongings out of the house,” he said.
More than 30,000 houses in 35 villages in 10 subdistricts were inundated by the Karawang floods.
According to Karawang’s social welfare authorities, the worst hit villages were found in the Telukjambe Timur, Karawang Barat and Pakisjaya subdistricts.
Before the floodwaters began to recede on Saturday, floodwaters in the three subdistricts were between 50 centimeters and two meters.
In certain areas, the floodwaters had even reached the roof-tops of houses.
On Saturday, Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring visited the area and handed over six tons of rice, 200 boxes of instant noodles and 300 boxes of mineral water to local authorities to be distributed to the flood victims.
