Four People Die When A 25-meter Cliff In Banjarnegara Lands On A Resident's House

The atmosphere at the site of the landslide cliff in Banjarnegara/ Photo: Antara

BANJARNEGARA – Four people died and one person was injured due to a cliff landslide disaster in Pagentan Village, Banjarnegara, Central Java.

"Four people died and one other person was injured in the cliff landslide incident in Pagentan Village, Pagentan District," said Head of the Emergency and Logistics Division of the Banjarnegara Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) Andri Sulistyo, quoting Antara, Saturday, November 20.

Andri said, the landslide occurred on Friday, November 19 at night. The cliff has a height of about 25 meters with a very steep slope, which is about 70 degrees, experienced a landslide and hit two residents' houses.

"It was not raining at the time of the incident, because high-intensity rain accompanied by strong winds occurred earlier, namely in the afternoon until the afternoon or a few hours before the incident," explained Andri.

As a result of the incident, two houses were seriously damaged and the road access connecting Pagentan - Pejawaran was temporarily closed.

He added that after the search operation which started from Friday night until early Saturday morning, all the victims had been found and evacuated.

"The search operation by the joint team was carried out for six hours, using hoes and heavy equipment, more than 100 personnel assisted in the search process and at this time all the dead and injured victims have been found and have been evacuated," he said.

He added that the search operation had been stopped at 05.00 WIB and would continue with activities to clean up debris or avalanche material.

"After the avalanche material is cleared from the road, then the road access will be reopened," said Andri.

Meanwhile, he informed that the injured victim, namely PO (7 years old), is currently being treated at Puskesmas 1 Pagentan.

Meanwhile, Andri said that the four victims who died due to being buried by material during the landslide were B (14 years), F (11 years), A (a midwife) and P (38 years).

Regarding the incident, his party again reminded all people in the Banjarnegara area to always increase their awareness of the potential for landslides following the increase in rainfall in the last few days.

"Considering that the rain intensity has been very high in recent days, we remind the public to always be vigilant. Those who live in landslide-prone locations should evacuate immediately if it rains with high intensity and long duration," he said.

Andri explained that it is feared that high intensity rain with a long duration will increase the potential for landslides, especially in vulnerable areas, such as on hillsides.