5 Hectare Of Paddy Land Buried By Landslide In Palabuhanratu Sukabumi, Even Though It Is Ready To Harvest

Landslide disaster in Palabuhanratu, Sukabumi. (Photo via ANTARA/Aditya Rohman)

SUKABUMI - Heavy rains that fell throughout the day caused a landslide in Palabuhanratu, Sukabumi Regency, West Java. As a result, about five hectares of the rice area in Babakanbungur Village, Cibodas Village, Palabuhanratu District, failed to harvest.

Palabuhanratu District Disaster Management Officer (P2BK), Ujang Nuryaman said the buried land was prone to landslides.

"We have carried out direct monitoring to the location, this landslide disaster was due to unstable agricultural land on top of it plus heavy rain that fell almost all day and finally landslides," said Ujang Nuryaman in Sukabumi, as reported by Antara, Saturday, March 26.

"The impact is that five hectares of rice fields planted with ready-to-harvest rice in Babakanbungur Village, Cibodas Village, Palabuhanratu Sub-district were buried by landslides," he added.

According to Ujang, the loss is still under calculation. However, it is estimated to reach tens of millions of rupiah and it is certain that only a small portion of the rice plants ready for harvest can be saved.

In addition to closing rice fields ready for harvest, this landslide also closed the access road connecting Palabuhanratu District to Cikakak and vice versa. In fact, the thick soil material that blocks the access road to clean it must use heavy equipment.

"We have coordinated with the relevant agencies to immediately send heavy equipment because until now the Palabuhanratu-Cikakak road access cannot be passed by people or vehicles," he added.

Another impact of this landslide disaster, one village in Cikakak Sub-district had difficulty getting water because the water channel was also buried.