Five dead after landslides, flooding across Bali

The Jakarta Post, Bali, Saturday January 25 2014,


Torrential rain and strong winds battered Bali on Thursday night causing landslides and flooding in five regencies and claiming the lives of at least five.

As of 2 p.m. Friday, a report from the Bali Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) showed that Buleleng was the worst hit regency. Other affected regencies were Bangli, Tabanan, Gianyar and Badung.

“We have deployed all our field personnel and equipment to deal with the situation,” operations officer I Komang Kusumaedi said.

In Buleleng landslides and flooding occurred in five districts, namely Kubutambahan, Sawan, Seririt, Sukasada and Busungbiu, damaging dozens of homes.

In Kubutambahan’s Tajun village, a landslide blocked the main road connecting Buleleng’s capital Singaraja to top tourist destination Kintamani in Bangli.

The landslide buried a minivan and pushed a small SUV into a ravine. The driver of the minivan survived, but the driver and passenger of the SUV were killed instantly.

Heavy rain also triggered a massive flood in Galungan village in Sawan district. As many as 62 residents had to leave their homes and take shelter at the nearby Pura Cengked Temple. The flood also damaged the village’s Pura Melanting Temple.

The flood destroyed at least 18 houses and two motorbikes in four villages. Moreover, scores of houses were swept away in Petemon and Pengastulan villages by the surging water from the nearby Tukad Saba River.

At Lokapaksa village in Seririt district, heavy rains caused the collapse of a 3-meter high wall that fell on a nearby house, killing one of its occupants.

Meanwhile, floods have also affected the delivery of fuel in Kudus, Jepara and Pati regencies in Central Java. State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina’s fuel trucks have been unable to enter the three regions due to the floods.

Pertamina’s marketing operational region IV external relation officer, Roberth MV, said fuel was last delievered to the regions on Tuesday, a day before floods obstructed access.

“If the trucks cannot get through the floods, there is nothing we can do,” Roberth said in Semarang on Friday.

He said the regencies’ fuel levels were at about 50 percent. In Pati, three of its 22 gas stations have completely run out of stock. A critical level of supply has also been reported by six out of Jepara’s 19 gas stations and five of Kudus’ 15 gas stations.

This has led to fuel price hike in the regions. A liter of gasoline in Kudus is sold at Rp 15,000 (US$1.20) at retailers, or twice the normal price.

“I don’t mind paying that price as long as there is gas. The problem is sellers have also run out of fuel,” Anggoro, a resident of Kudus, said.

Meanwhile, Central Java Military Regional Command (Kodam) IV/Diponegoro. commander Maj. Gen. Sunindyo, said 7,500 military personnel had been deployed to help with the evacuation efforts emergency response.

He said his troops would also cooperate with the local police to utilize small boats to patrol affected areas.

Separately, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) BPBD head Tini Tadeus said that bad weather had battered the province since Monday and five people had died.

Quoting data from the National Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), Tini said that NTT tides was between three- and five-meters high.

State-owned seaport operator PT ASDP NTT office supervisor, Hermin Welkis, said that ferry services had been canceled due to the weather.



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