Hot Land Becomes An Obstacle In Searching For Victims Of Mount Semeru Falls

VIA ANTARA Foto's photo

JAKARTA - The condition of the ground that is still hot is an obstacle in the search for missing victims due to hot clouds and avalanches of Mount Semeru in Lumajang Regency, East Java.

"The problem is that the ground is still hot, so even heavy equipment is useless for searching", said the Commander of the Emergency Response Command Post for the Impact of Hot Clouds and Falls of Mount Semeru, who is also Danrem 083/Baladhika Jaya Infantry, Colonel Irwan Subekti, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, December 7.

For the next day, his party will focus on searching in Renteng Village and Curah Kobokan, which are the worst affected areas.

He said that until now all affected areas could be reached, but due to the wide range of Mount Semeru avalanches and the hot sand, search and rescue actions were still carried out on a limited basis.

The search for victims in the future is still carried out manually by smelling and seeing, using heavy equipment, as well as being carried out with residents at the search location.

"The search has reached the fourth day. We are given one week to search optimally", said Irwan.

The search time is carried out from morning to evening, taking into account the weather situation in Lumajang Regency, considering that it rains every afternoon, so it affects the search process.

He said the situation on the slopes of Semeru was still showing signs of an eruption, which required high vigilance.

Previously, there were two eruptions in the morning, at which time the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, visited the refugee camps. However, these events have little impact on the search object.

"Similarly, hot lava can also be affected at any time from above, from the current of the Kobokan River", he said.

Previously it was reported that 34 people died and 22 people were declared missing in the hot cloud disaster that fell from Mount Semeru.

The affected houses were 5,205 units. Data for refugees is 4,250 people, spread over several places, in schools, mosques, village halls, and houses of residents or relatives of the victims.