Five Die as ‘Anomalous’ Rain Triggers Landslide in Central Java

The Jakarta Globe, June 4, 2013.


Heavy rain on Tuesday afternoon triggered a landslide in a village in the Central Java town of Tegal, killing five workers at a brick factory.

The five victims — three women and two men — were collecting soil for a local brick factory near a five-meter-high cliff when a landslide buried them alive. Their bodies were evacuated later in the evening, according to Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).

“Officers from the Tegal office of [BNPB], Indonesian Military soldiers, volunteers and local residents evacuated the victims manually because we couldn’t bring in heavy equipment to the landslide location,” Sutopo said.

He added that heavy rain, rather than the victims’ digging activities, had likely triggered the landslide.

Sutopo warned the country of more landslides and floods, citing a weather anomaly produced by a wet monsoon-like wind pattern blowing from the Indian Ocean northeastward, striking Java and Sumatra. He said the wind was bringing about rains, although Indonesia’s wet season usually ended in April.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) earlier blamed global warming and rising ocean temperatures for the uncharacteristic weather, expected to last until August.

“This condition means high intensity of rain will still fall over Indonesian regions, and may trigger floods and landslides,” Sutopo said.