Dozens Of Houses Affected By Landslides In Toraja

MAKASSAR - The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of South Sulawesi Province, stated that dozens of housing units were affected by landslides or landslides in Lembang/Rano Tengah Village, Tana Toraja Regency.

"Initially only seven housing units were affected, which were inhabited by 11 families (KK) with 35 people. Today it has increased to 11 houses, and 16 families from 46 people have to be relocated", said the Head of BPBD South Sulawesi, Muhammad Firda, quoted by Antara on Monday, February 21.

The landslide occurred, triggered by heavy rains that lasted long enough from 17 February to Sunday 20 February 2022 and are still ongoing today. The incident added to the affected houses, both those that were cracked and would be hit by landslides.

From the latest development data received from the Tana Toraja BPBD, Firda said, the condition of the land that moved at the beginning of the incident was only about 10 hectares, now it continues to move to increase the area to about 15 hectares.

"Housing damage is expected to increase if the rain continues and the damage area can extend beyond 15 hectares and threaten an elementary school building, including several other residents' houses in the disaster area", he said.

The impact of the damage caused so far, as many as seven housing units inhabited by 11 families with 35 people seriously damaged. Furthermore, four housing units were moderately damaged with cracks in the walls, which could be severely damaged if the heavy rain continued.

In addition, another impact is that the only road that connects to the local lembang/village has been concreted four meters wide, cut off for 500 meters and cannot be accessed by vehicles. The total loss is estimated at more than IDR 900 million.

So far, efforts have been made by BPBD and the Tana Toraja Regency Government by evacuating residents to safer places and establishing public kitchens.

The demolition of houses affected by landslides and preparations for paving the way to replace the 350-meter broken road with the Public Works and Public Housing Service (PUPR) and the local village government are underway.

Previously, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Region IV Makassar, South Sulawesi, issued an early warning regarding the weather in the South Sulawesi region for four days from Sunday to Wednesday (February 20-23, 2022) with moderate to heavy rainfall.