45 Villages In Trenggalek, East Java Recorded As Landslide Prone, Police Will Intensively Conduct Patrols

Joint officers carry out work to clean landslide material (ANTARA)

TRENGGALEK - The Trenggalek Police, East Java, is aggressively conducting regular patrols in a number of areas that have been identified as prone to landslides as cracks and shifting points are found that threaten residents' settlements and public facilities.

"This patrol is intended to map as well as anticipate vulnerabilities caused by natural disasters and what progress we can make to reduce victim fatalities," said Trenggalek Police Chief AKBP Dwiasi Wiyatputera in Trenggalek, Antara, Wednesday, November 24.

Referring to BPBD and police data, a total of 45 villages spread across 10 sub-districts were mapped as landslide-prone areas. Landslides have even occurred several times and hit people's homes.

The latest landslide incident occurred on Tuesday, November 23 at around 21.00 WIB in Depok Village, Bendungan District.

Although it did not cause any casualties or injuries, the losses due to a series of landslides over the past three weeks caused losses of hundreds of millions of rupiah.

At least 30 houses were damaged by the landslide.

To anticipate the potential for landslides in the rainy season, the Trenggalek Police has alerted a disaster task force team.

"Personnel are also alerted if needed at any time. Today we are dispatching members from both the Resort Police and the Sector Police to assist in cleaning and evacuation," said Dwiasi.

Trenggalek BPBD secretary, Tri Puspita Sari said that the dozens of villages are in Watulimo, Tugu, Trenggalek, Pule, Panggul, Munjungan, Axe Durenan, Dongko and Dam sub-districts. In Trenggalek there are 152 villages and 5 sub-districts in 14 sub-districts.

"Globally, how many crucial points are prone to landslides that must be watched out for during the rainy season, namely 45 villages in 10 sub-districts," he said.

The most potential landslide-prone points during the rainy season from the 45 villages are in Pule District with a total of 10 villages. The landslide-prone points are in the villages of Joho, Jombok, Karanganyar, Kembangan, Pakel, Kembangan, Pule, Sidomulyo, Sukokidul and Tanggaran villages.

To minimize disaster risk, BPBD has taken several steps. These include providing gabions to landslide-prone villages, submitting a budget for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of disaster damage to BNPB and provincial BPBDs to increasing education and outreach to communities in disaster-prone areas.