Landslide Material In West Pasaman As High As 4 Meters, Handling Involves 30 Police Personnel

Illustration of steep cliffs has the potential to landslide. (Pixabay)

West Pasaman Police deployed 30 personnel in handling landslides in Polongan Anam, Jorong Patomauan, Talamau District. They joined the other SAR teams to speed up traffic access. "The personnel were dispatched to provide security and control of traffic flow around the landslide location as an effort to create a security and smooth and conducive traffic situation," said West Pasaman Police Chief AKBP Agung Basuki at Simpang Empat, West Pasaman, West Sumatra (West Sumatra), Thursday, October 19, confiscated by Antara. He said, together with related agencies assisted by the local community, they were trying to clean up landslide materials so that people could pass through, at least two-wheeled vehicles could pass. "We together with TNI personnel from Koramil 03/Talu, BPBD, the sub-district and nagari have been at the landslide point to carry out security and help the community to pass through quite steep alternative routes and roads filled with landslide materials mixed with stones and wood," he said. He appealed to all people who pass the route from Talu to Simpang Empat or vice versa to always be vigilant and careful, especially now is the rainy season because this area is very prone to landslides. "There were no casualties and material losses in this incident. However, currently, the electricity is outages and the telecommunication network is a bit disrupted," he said. Meanwhile, Talamau Sub-district Head Andre Affandi said that until Thursday, October 19 evening, landslides could be passed by two-wheeled vehicles. As for the four-wheelers, they still cannot cross the landslide route. "Tonight the joint team is still trying to clean up the landslide material which is up to four meters high," he said.

As a result of this landslide, the traffic flow that crossed the direction to the Pasaman-Talu-Simpang Empat Kebupaten Panti was completely cut off. "There is a queue of vehicles in the two directions at this time because they cannot pass through landslides because the landslide material covers the road and is quite high," he said. In addition, he said, landslide material in the form of trees hit the power cable which resulted in a power outage to Talu, Talamau District. His party has also contacted the West Pasaman PLN for the repair of the cut electrical installation network. "We also appeal to two-wheeled riders to be careful crossing the landslide route because it is slippery," he said.