Hundreds Of Residents In Kupang City Evacuated To Avoid Landslides

A police officer shows a large rock that collapsed and overflowed residents' houses during a landslide on the banks of the Liliba river, Tuak Daun Merah Sub-district, Kupang City, NTT, Monday, January 25. (Aloysius Lewokeda / Antara))

JAKARTA - As many as 140 residents living around the banks of the Liliba river, Tuak Daun Merah Village, Kupang City, East Nusa Tenggara were evacuated to avoid the threat of landslides in the area.

Head of the Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) Kupang City, Maxi Didok, when contacted in Kupang, Monday, said that the evacuation of residents was carried out following a landslide disaster that occurred on Monday, January 25, early in the morning at around 05.00 WITA.

"Hundreds of our residents temporarily evacuated to St. Petrus Rasul's Church in TDM Urban Village," he said as quoted by Antara, Monday, January 25.

He explained that the landslide incident that occurred killed two residents who were a husband and wife with the initials PK and M.

For this reason, in order to avoid the threat of further landslides, residents were temporarily evacuated, said Maxi Didok, who admitted that he was at the scene with a number of parties conducting the evacuation.

He explained that there were many houses in the vicinity of the landslide which were right on the banks of the Liliba River with very steep terrain.

Some residents' houses are in the area under the cliff so it is very dangerous for safety because when a landslide occurs, it can be buried with soil or large rocks that are higher.

He explained that it seems like residents' houses only hang on cliffs, so that when the water infiltration into the ground increases due to waste and rainwater, it has the potential for landslides to occur.

"In recent days the intensity of the rain is quite high, causing this landslide to occur," he said.

Maxi added that apart from that, the large limiting stones that were under the residents' houses had also been released, so the potential for further landslides was very likely to occur.

"Therefore, residents were evacuated temporarily because the rainfall was still high," he said.