Potential Landslides When Cipamingkis River Water Rises, Bekasi Regency Government Evacuates Residents In Cigoong Cibarusah Village

Landslides of the Cipamingkis River in Cigoong Village RT 03 RW 01, Sirnajati Village, Cibarusah District, Bekasi Regency/VIA ANTARA

BEKASI - The Bekasi Regency Government, West Java, evacuated residents to prevent potential victims of the Cipamingkis River landslide in Cigoong Village RT03 RW01, Sirnajati Village, Cibarusah District. "Residents were evacuated to a safe location to prevent further landslides when the Cipamingkis River water rose. This is a short-term mitigation, our priority focus," said Bekasi Regent Dani Ramdan in Cikarang, Antara, Thursday, October 20. The evacuation process was also carried out on the assets of residents living in the area threatened by landslides by looking for alternative locations for temporary protection. His party has instructed the ranks of village and sub-district officials to find temporary shelters for residents who have the potential to be affected by the Cipamingkis River landslide. "Residents' damaged houses will be rebuilt through the Rehabilitation Program for Uninhabitable Houses (Rutilahu). I have asked the sub-district head to look for land," he said. The local government also coordinates with the Citarum River Basin Center (BBWS) for medium-term mitigation as well as landslide prevention efforts at that location. "In the next one or two days, BBWS will review the location. We will also meet together to strengthen the cliffs of the Cipamingkis River," he said. Head of Cibarusah Sub-district, Muhamad Kurnaepi, admitted that a number of residents are now in an unsafe zone following the distance from the riverbanks with settlements of only a few meters due to landslides a few days ago. "We reviewed several houses whose conditions were critical because they were very close to the cliffs. It is feared that this will continue to get worse because the water continues to erode the soil that is the riverbank," he said. His party and residents have also begun to dismantle a number of houses to be moved to a relatively safer location considering that the weather conditions in this rainy season have the potential to increase the river's water discharge until there is a threat of further landslides. "We urge residents to remain vigilant and careful with high rainfall," he said.