Pura And Dozens Of Tengger Tribe Houses In Rusak's Ranu Pani Village Hit By Longsor

Illustration of a landslide. (Between)

JATIM - A landslide and flash flood hit a residential area of the Tengger Tribe, in Ranu Pani Village, Lumajang Regency, East Java. The disaster caused dozens of houses and one temple at the foot of Mount Semeru to be damaged.

Head of the Emergency Division, Rehabilitation of the Lumajang Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), Joko Sambang, said heavy rains that flushed the slopes of Mount Semeru caused landslides and floods accompanied by mud to hit Ranu Pani Village. The area became isolated on Saturday 8 October.

"Based on the results of the assessment affected by the landslide as many as 11 houses, both lightly and moderately damaged," said Joko in Lumajang, East Java, quoted by Antara, Sunday, October 9.

Selain menyebabkan rumah rusak, tanah longsor juga menyebabkan akses jalan yang menghubungkan Kabupaten Lumajang dengan Kabupaten Malang melalui Desa Ranu Pani tidak dapat dilalui kendaraan, baik roda dua maupun roda empat.

The livestock cage belonging to the residents of Ranu Pani Village was also damaged by a landslide, so the livestock was evacuated to a safe place.

"The landslides also closed 10 points for Ranu Pani Village, so the handling focused on cleaning road access so that it could be passed," he said.

He explained that the BPBD team brought 1 unit of heavy equipment to go with the Forkopimcam Senduro group, Kodim 0821 Lumajang and the Lumajang Police to the scene to work together to carry out emergency handling due to extreme weather in Ranu Pani Village.

Handling uses heavy equipment and manuals. There are four units of heavy equipment used to speed up handling, including 1 unit of BPBD loader and two excavators and one unit of doser belonging to the Public Works Agency.

"The clearing of the avalanche was completed, continued with community service on Saturday (October 8), so that road access can be passed by two and four-wheeled vehicles, but the road conditions are still slippery," he said.

He explained that landslides in cliffs and piles of mud material along about two km which blocked part of the road due to overflowing water discharge from plantation land had been cleared.

"Hopefully there will be no follow-up landslides, we urge residents to remain alert to potential disasters," he said.