Cliff Of The Klating River Near The Houses Of Longsor Residents, Purbalingga Local Government Asked To Take Action

The Cliff of the Klating River in Bancar Village, Purbalingga District, Purbalingga Regency, Central Java Province, after landslides in 2022 and December 11, 2023. (ANTARA/Documentation Herling Harris Nie)

PURBALINGGA - A resident of Bancar Village who lives on the banks of the Klating River, Purbalingga Regency, Central Java Province (Central Java), hopes that the government will immediately deal with landslides in the river cliffs.

On Monday, Herling Harris Nie, a resident of RT 01 RW 01 Bancar Village, said the cliff of the Klating River landslides in 2022 and landslides again on December 11, 2023.

According to him, there were about 20 houses that were affected by the landslide of river cliffs and seven to eight houses on them that were threatened with being hit by landslide cliffs.

Harris, who has lived on the banks of the Klating River since 1996, said there were several houses whose land on the back was lost up to 20 meters long due to landslides.

After the first landslide incident, according to him, there were a number of government officials who reviewed the landslide location and residents received information that the Purbalingga Regency Government had conveyed the issue to the Serayu Opak River Basin Center (BBWSSO) in Yogyakarta.

"However, until the second incident in December, which exacerbated landslides, this project has not been realized," said Harris, Monday, January 22.

According to him, BBWSSO officials came to the landslide site after the second incident and informed that the handling of landslides would be taken over by the central government, in this case the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR).

He said that government agency officials promised to invite residents to discuss handling landslides in the Klating River.

"Two weeks ago we received news from the management of the RT and the sub-district government that for temporary handling, a replacement and several stone gabions would be made to divert the current so as not to the south side of the cliff," he said.

According to him, the construction of sudetan and the installation of gabions has promised to be carried out starting January 15, 2024, but until now it has not been realized.

In fact, he said, the Head of RT 01 had been invited to socialize the plan to make a replacement for traditional sand miners located north of the river.

"However, until now it has not been realized. Even though at this time the condition is very severe, because there are those that are located from the back of the sidewalk (the river wall garden) only about 12 meters left," he said.

Head of RT 01 RW 01 Bancar Pawit Village said that there were at least 20 houses affected by the landslide of the Klating River cliff and all of them were in severe condition.

"We ask that this landslide problem be handled quickly by the government," he said.

Yani Poniarti, a resident of RT 01 RW 01 Bancar Village, the backyard of his house was lost because the river cliff behind his house collapsed on December 11, 2023.

"We really hope for assistance from the government to overcome this problem," he said.

On a separate occasion, the Head of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Purbalingga Regency, Priyo Satmoko, said that the handling of landslides on the banks of the Klating River, Bancar Village, is the authority of BBWSSO.

According to him, BPBD has coordinated with BBWSSO to seek immediate handling of landslide river cliffs considering that 20 houses and one shop have been affected.

"We just received information that today BBWSSO will send a heavy equipment unit to deal with the landslide," he said.

According to the information he received, a replacement would be made to divert the flow of river water so as not to hit cliffs that had collapsed.