Landslides leave 75 dead or missing in Indonesia.

Landslides caused by torrential rains overnight have left 75 people dead or missing in Indonesia's Central Java province, the emergency response agency said on Wednesday.

A provincial official said the landslides were the worst to hit the region in quarter of a century as thousands of people moved to rescue shelters after their homes were buried or washed away.

Rescue workers and police were struggling to reach the affected areas as roads were cut off by floods following the rains, said provincial police spokesman Syahroni.

The National Disaster Management Agency said 24 bodies had been recovered and another 37 people were missing following landslides in at least nine villages in Karanganyar district near the banks of the famous Bengawan Solo river.

Another 14 people are missing in Wonogiri district 30 km (19 miles) south of Karanganyar, but lack of heavy equipment was slowing down rescue efforts.

"It is difficult for any help to reach the area, so the local teams are left on their own," said Julianto, an official with the provincial government.

"The landslides took us by surprise. This is the first time in the last 25 years anything of this scale occurred here in Central Java."

Thousands of villagers in areas who lost their homes to floods or landslides have moved into temporary shelters in buildings and tents set up by local emergency response teams, Julianto said.

Metro TV showed residents wading through neck-high water.

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_©Reuters

Dozens Dead In Indonesian Landslides
Torrential Rains Bury Homes; Mud And Flooding Hampers Rescue


Residents stand on the top of a house destroyed by landslide in Tawangmangu, Central Java, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007. Days of torrential rain triggered landslides that killed up to 78 people in western Indonesia on Wednesday, a rescue official said, while floods inundated thousands of houses elsewhere in the country

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_{Bron: CBS News} | Gewijzigd: 13 februari 2017, 12:29 uur, door Joyce.s

Meer dan honderd doden op Java.

Op het Indonesische eiland Java zijn al meer dan honderd mensen om het leven gekomen door aardverschuivingen. Ze werden zowel in hun huizen als buiten door modderstromen gegrepen. Volgens het Indonesische persagentschap Antara is woensdag ook een brug ingestort waarop zich ongeveer vijftig mensen bevonden. Ze begaf het onder het gewicht van het water en de modder. Velen onder hen werden nog niet terug gevonden.

12 uur regen
Volgens lokale media heeft het twaalf uren ononderbroken geregend. In twee dicht bevolkte centraal gelegen provincies bedolf de modder tientallen huizen en straten. Heel wat woningen zijn gewoon weggeveegd, aldus het nationale Rode Kruis. Vele mensen zijn in het crisisgebied, 500 kilometer ten zuidoosten van de hoofdstad Jakarta, nog vermist.



Volgens een woordvoerder van de provinciale autoriteiten zijn de toegangswegen op vele plaatsen versperd, zodat het voor de hulpdiensten erg moeilijk is om het rampgebied te bereiken. Er zijn wel extra helpers naar het crisisgebied gestuurd en ook veel vrijwilligers hebben zich aangeboden.

Volgens milieuactivisten en regeringsverantwoordelijken is de ontbossing in de regio een van de oorzaken van de ramp.

_©HLN | Gewijzigd: 13 februari 2017, 12:29 uur, door Joyce.s

Heavy storms to keep ships in harbors

The government has renewed calls for ships and boats not to set sail in the next few days following warnings of extreme weather and high waves from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG).

Sea transport director general at the Transportation Ministry Effendi Batubara told Detik.com on Wednesday the no-sail warnings were valid throughout this week and could be renewed. The ministry issued its first warnings two weeks ago.

In bad weather warnings issued on Tuesday, BMG said three- to five-meter-high waves could hit several parts of Indonesia because of seasonal monsoon winds expected to last until the end of this year.

"Ships and boats should not set sail in the next two days because they might be swept away by high tides," Eko Prasetyo, a meteorology and geophysics expert with the BMG office in Surabaya, told Antara on Wednesday.

He said the Java Sea would be hit by waves as high as three and five meters, while the Makassar Strait and Bali Sea might see waves with heights between 0.5 and 3.5 meters.

BMG said waters in the southern part of Sumatra and in the south of Nusa Tenggara could be hit by up to four-meter-high waves, while the waters to the south of East Java might see 0.5 to 2.5-meter waves.

The agency said the predicted waves would likely be caused by the West Monsoon wind, a seasonal wind that occurs when atmospheric pressure is high across the Asian continent and low across Australia.

Eko said mariners should also stay alert for severely low tides, which might hamper ships from harboring and loading.

He said waters in Surabaya's Tanjung Perak harbor receded to minus-170 centimeters on Wednesday and were predicted to rise only by 10 centimeters the following day.

Effendi said they would keep monitoring BMG's reports, but reminded sailors and fishermen to stay alert because there had recently been several serious sea accidents.

On Dec. 23, a tugboat pulling a coal barge was overturned near Bali as it sailed from South Kalimantan to Cilacap, Central Java.

In September, the BMG also warned vessels against sailing in the Indian Ocean, including waters around the Mentawai islands and the coastal areas of West Sumatra, due to extreme weather.

Passenger ferries plying the Mentawai-Padang route continue to operate despite the warning, but no accidents have been reported.

The Indonesian archipelago boasts the largest area of territorial waters in the world.

Indonesia has 5.8 million square meters of sea territory, or three-quarters of its total area. Its shorelines, which stretch for some 81,000 kilometers, are the second longest worldwide after Canada.

While Indonesia is a maritime nation, its sea transportation remains a public concern, because many vessels are poorly equipped and apply minimum safety procedures in the face of bad weather warnings.

One of the most noted sea tragedies was the sinking of the Senopati Nusantara ferry in the Java Sea on Dec. 30, 2006, after it was reportedly hit by dangerous waves.

This accident claimed the lives of more than 300 passengers. It is believed that defective lifeboats were among the causes of the great number of fatalities.

_{Bron: Jakarta Post}

Evacuation, rescue efforts under way after landslides, flooding.

Torrential rains throughout Indonesia since mid-December have caused numerous landslides in central Java and extensive flooding in most of Java, West Sumatra and West Nusa Tenggara, and killed over 100 people in all. Rescue efforts are still under way and the final death toll is yet to be determined.

Landslides struck nine villages in Karanganyar District, central Java, on 26 December. The National Coordination Board for Disaster Management (BAKORNAS PB) said 65 people had been killed, with media reports putting the figure as high as 75.

The evacuation and rescue process in all affected areas is being jointly conducted by the military (TNI), the police, the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS PB), the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) and international and local agencies and volunteers.

Emergency assistance - including food and drinking water, medical assistance and setting up centres for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and/or emergency tents - is being coordinated by regional and local disaster operational management divisions. PMI has dispatched hygiene kits, tarpaulins, tents and other non-food items to the affected areas.

Heavy equipment arriving

Roads to the Karanganyar area had been cut off and the first heavy duty equipment to assist in the rescue and recovery effort began arriving on 26 December. Villagers and rescuers there had been using their bare hands in a frantic attempt to recover bodies often buried deep beneath the mud.

Mohammad Abdullah, chief of Bencana Alam’s district coordination unit for disaster management, told IRIN in a phone interview: “The mud is very thick, but we are working in good spirits.” He said heavy equipment arrived there on 27 December and had really helped the recovery effort. He also said that due to continued heavy rain an additional six landslides had occurred in the district.

Landslides also occurred in the adjacent district of Wonogiri, in central Java, where seven people were reported killed and 10 were still missing.

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_©IRIN

Indonesian president warns on catastrophes.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday warned the people of possible catastrophes in the next two months, due to high rainfalls.

The president told a press conference following rampant floods and landslides nationwide, including the major landslide in Central Java, that killed more than 100 people.

The warning also delivered to the authorities in the sectors of air, sea and land transports, as poor weather had often caused rampant accidents in the country that claimed hundreds of lives.

"According to the prediction of the meteorology agency, in December, January and February, the rainfall is high that make the threats of floods and landslides also high in our country," said Susilo.

The president asked the people to be cautious of the possible catastrophe.

"Let's boost our alert," he said at the State Palace.

"I also asked regulators and operators of sea, air, and land transports to put the people safety on top priority," said Susilo.

Indonesia has been frequently hit by flood and landslide due to lack of forest-covered areas, which could not hold excessive waters during heavy rains.

Forest destruction and illegal logging have been blamed for the lack of forest covered areas.

Indonesia, which is losing its forests at the world's fastest rate, is struggling to safe its rain-forest from deforestation.

"The disaster has led us to protect our forest, and other areas which are vulnerable to landslide," said Susilo.

The country's Forestry Minister Malam Sambat Kaban warned residence living under the slope of a land to cultivate the land in accordance with the conservation aspects, otherwise the land will slide down when rain come.

"Most of the landslides and floods nationwide occurred in residential areas near land which has high slop and the cultivation of the soil was not in line with conservation rules," he told Xinhua at the State Palace..

The minister said that Java island was the most vulnerable on the disasters as the structure of the soil in the island was clay and sandy, which has lack capabilities to hold waters.

"Land in Java island is potential for landslide, when rain in two or three hours, the flood and landslide occur," he said.

The minister said that 5,000 spots in the island are vulnerable for landslides.

Activists have already warned that the forests in the area are under threat from large-scale forest destruction.

Indonesia, which is losing its forests at the world's fastest rate, is struggling to safe its rain-forest from deforestation.

_©Xinhua

Death Toll in Indonesian Landslides, Floods Climbs to 153.

The number of fatality of landslides and floods in Java Island, Indonesia, has climbed to 153, the National Disaster Management Agency said here Sunday.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has warned of possible catastrophes across the nation, which has thousands of lack- forest covered areas with dense population, due to prediction of the meteorology agency that rainfalls would be high in December, January and February.

An official said that the rescue of missing persons, involving thousands of police, soldiers, the countries rescue teams and volunteers had been underway.

The head of crisis centre of the country's health ministry Rustam Pakaya said that heavy rains still triggered floods in Bojonegoro regency of East Java province and threatened to watered other areas in the province, as the waters of Bengawan Solo rivers overflowed.

"Thousands of houses in Bojonegoro are still submerged and thousands others in Tuban are threatened to be inundanted," he told Xinhua by phone from Central Java province.

Indonesian Forestry Minister Malam Sambat Kaban has said that Java Island is the most vulnerable island from the disasters, as the island's soil mostly comprised of clay and sand which has lack capability to hold excessive waters during heavy rainfalls.

Indonesia, which is losing its forests at the world's fastest rate, is struggling to save its rain-forest from deforestation.

_©Redorbit

Flood waters from Bogor to reach Jakarta Wednesday morning.

Jakartans living on the banks of the Ciliwung River or in areas prone to flooding were warned that flood waters from the Bogor region were expected to reach the capital city between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. on Wednesday.

The water level at the Katulampa sluice in Bogor (60 kilometers south of Jakarta) had reached a height of 140 centimeters or exceeding the normal limit of 80 centimeters, an official at Jakarta`s Manggarai sluice, Dian, said here Tuesday.

"Heavy rains fell in Bogor at about 5.30 p.m. and the waters are predicted to reach the Manggarai sluice within 10 hours," Dian said.

The waters from Bogor could reach the Depok sluice within three hours, Dian said, adding that the water level at the Depok sluice had reached a height of 200 centimeters or almost exceeding the normal limit.

Dian said the water level at the Manggarai sluice had risen to 670 centimeters at 7.30 p.m. while its normal level was 750 centimeters.

Heavy rains falling in Jakarta and surrounding areas on Tuesday night caused flooding on a number of roads in Cipinang, Kampung Melayu, Manggarai and Pegangsaan but it did not cause traffic jams.

The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) had earlier predicted that in early January or February 2008 a number of areas in Jakarta were likely to experince flooding as rainfall would increase.

Head of the agency`s data and information center Tuwamin Mulyono said here Tuesday the prediction was made as rainfall in Jakarta in January through February, 2008, would be high.

"Entering March, 2008, rainfall is expected to drop," he said.

Thus, he said, people living in areas prone to flooding, especially those on river banks should be on guard against deluges.

Worse floods would occur in Jakarta as many dams were misused so that the number of water catchment areas in the capital city had dropped.

"Indeed, in the early rainy season, the waters could still be accomodated but gradually the dams were unable to hold the waters thus causing innundations," he said.

_©Antara

Hundreds flee as high waves strike Indonesia coast.

KUPANG, Indonesia -- High waves lashed hundreds of homes in eastern Indonesia Thursday, forcing about 1,000 people to flee but causing no casualties, an official said Thursday.

"Some 250 houses along the coastline were hit this morning by three-meter high waves, leaving dozens destroyed," a senior official at Biboki Anleu, in East Nusa Tenggara province, told reporters.

He said that there was no reports of casualties so far but ongoing heavy downpours had hampered his teams' ability to complete site checks.

"At least 1,000 residents have fled their homes," he added.

High waves have been lashing Indonesia's eastern islands for the past week.

On Tuesday, two students drowned in a resort area south of Kupang, the capital of East Nusa Tenggara, when a three-meter (10-foot) wave swept to shore, their relatives said.

A cargo ship also sank in rough seas in eastern Indonesia on Monday, killing three people and leaving five missing, while the turbulent waters also killed two swimmers.

Torrential rains have also inundated Indonesia's main island of Java in recent days, killing scores of people in landslides and floods.

High seas and wild weather are not unusual from December to February in Indonesia, when the rainy season hits a peak across the world's fourth most populous nation.

_©Inquirer