130 feared dead in landslides
Rescuers search for bodies in western Indonesia after torrential rain triggers devastating landslides.
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Thursday, 27, Dec 2007 10:46
Up to 130 people are feared dead in western Indonesia after torrential rain triggered devastating landslides.
Two districts in Central Java were hit by the landslides on Wednesday with entire houses submerged or buried by the onslaught while key access roads have been blocked.
And around 40 people are missing after a bridge over an overflowing river in Madiun district in East Java was swept away by floods, a local police officer said.
"This is still an estimate -- there were many people passing the bridge at the time according to witnesses," a policeman at Madiun district police station told the AFP news agency.
"The search is limited to along the river's banks. But no victims have been found so far."
In Central Java a team of about 1,000 rescuers, police and soldiers used their hands and manual tools in attempting to unearth the bodies of people buried in mud from steep slopes in Tawangmangu, with three more pulled out today.
Twenty-eight people were still missing in the district, Heru Pratomo, head of the disaster relief agency in Karanganyar, was quoted by the Reuters new agency as saying.
The death toll in neighbouring Wonogiri has risen to six, while 11 people are still missing.
Seasonal rains and high tides are believed to have caused the flooding and subsequent landslides, but according to Chalid Muhammad, director of Indonesia's leading environmental group Walhi, a lack of government action had precipitated the disaster.
"For five consecutive years landslides and floods have occurred in Java, claiming many lives. The main trigger is ecological destruction caused by deforestation, forest conversions and chaotic spatial planning," Chalid told Reuters.
"There have been no adequate efforts by the government to protect the people from disasters. When the landslides happened officials were on holiday and there was no access of heavy equipment to the affected areas."
Around 2,000 people left homeless by the landslides are sheltering in mosques, churches and official buildings.