Longor Melanda Banjarnegara, 165 Souls Forced to Displace
JAKARTA - The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) handled landslides and floods triggered by heavy intensity rain and extreme weather in the upper area of the area on Wednesday, January 14 at night.
Head of Emergency and Logistics BPBD Banjarnegara Regency Raib Syekhudin said that the landslide occurred at around 19.00 WIB in Melikan Village, Giritirta District, after the area was hit by heavy rain since 16.00 WIB.
"Heavy rain that lasted quite a long time caused the road and cliff around the residential area to collapse, so that the landslide material fell on the residents' houses," he said in Banjarnegara, Thursday, quoted by Antara.
According to him, the incident resulted in as many as 48 heads of households (KK) with a total of 165 people being forced to evacuate to the nearest relatives' houses to avoid potential landslides.
At the beginning of the incident, he said, residents fled on their own initiative with the direction of the village and sub-district governments because they were afraid of cracks in the cliffs around the location.
However, after checking on the ground, he continued, the BPBD confirmed that the landslide came from a road embankment whose condition was already tilted and then collapsed due to the pressure of rainwater.
"After checking today (January 15), it turned out that it was not a natural cliff that was cracked, but a collapsed road embankment. For other residents, they are still waiting for the results of the study, whether they can return to their respective homes," he said.
His party noted that the landslide resulted in three houses being severely damaged, each belonging to Miarjo, Tanto, and Prayit. In addition, he said, the houses belonging to Hairudin and Toharjo also suffered minor damage due to being hit by landslide material.
The landslide material also buried a motorcycle, damaged the agricultural road, and caused a 10-year-old boy named Vida to suffer minor injuries and trauma.
"The victim has received medical treatment and is currently reported to be in a safe condition," he said.
In addition to landslides, he said, heavy rain also caused the Sak-Sak River in Wanayasa Village, Wanayasa District, to overflow and flood the residents' settlements with water levels ranging from 50 centimeters to 100 centimeters.
According to him, the flood affected nine residents' houses, each belonging to Robi, Tarsono, Tunut, Hadin, Johan, Noto, Naryo, Purnomo, and Badar.
He said some residents had fled to relatives' homes, while others had chosen to stay on the second floor of their homes or were not yet willing to be evacuated.
"Until this morning, the water had receded and residents returned to their respective homes on Thursday (January 15) morning," he said.
Regarding this, he appealed to people living in disaster-prone areas to increase vigilance, considering the potential for heavy rain still has the opportunity to occur in the next few days.
"We hope that residents will immediately report to the village officials or officers if they find signs of land movement, cracks, and an increase in river water discharge quickly," said Raib Syekhudin.