West Java Police Clarifies Missing Data from Cisarua Landslide Not 108 Victims
BANDUNG - The West Java Regional Police clarified information regarding 108 people missing in a landslide disaster in Kampung Babakan RT 05 RW 11 Pasirkuning, Pasirlangu Village, Cisarua District, West Bandung Regency, Saturday (24/1).
Head of the West Java Regional Police Operations Bureau, Kombes Areis La Ode Aries El Fathar, emphasized that the number of 108 was not the number of missing victims, but the number of people who came to the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) post for ante-mortem purposes.
"One victim can be represented by two to three family members who come to report. Therefore, the number of reporters cannot be used as a reference for the number of missing victims," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, January 27.
The police still accept people who come to report even without bringing their ID cards or KK.
Regarding the process of identifying the victims, Areis said that as many as 20 bags of bodies had been identified since the first day of the disaster until Monday 18.30 WIB.
Currently, he said there are 38 bags of bodies at the Puskesmas with 18 bags of bodies still in the process of identification by the DVI team.
"The identification process is still ongoing and will continue tomorrow," he explained.
Meanwhile, the Head of the Bandung Basarnas Office, Ade Dian Permanameng, revealed that after handing over 38 bags of bodies to the National Police DVI team, his team continued to search for dozens of other residents who were still suspected of being buried.
"So, the total findings on the first day to the third day were 38 bags of bodies," said Ade.
He also emphasized that the data on missing victims is dynamic, so there is the possibility of an increase or decrease in the number, according to the latest report.
He also explained that until now his party was still using the term evacuation of the body bag because not all body bags were intact so that it needed to be re-identified to prevent duplicate data.