Landslides Take 19 Lives in Sumatra: Dingin Air, Sumatra, Indonesia

By Barrie | December 16th, 2006 | No Comments

As soon as the rainy season starts in Indonesia, so do the landslides and flooding in the lower lying areas. Environmentalists are quick to blame land clearance as a cause of a majority of landslides in the archipelago. But there are other mitigating causes.

A landslide that crashed into a remote village on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has left 19 people dead, many of them killed as they slept in a mosque according to an SBS World News report. The landslide in Air Dingin village in Solok district occurred after two days of heavy rains, said Desra Ediwan Anantanur, the deputy district chief.

Mr Anantanur said 19 people were buried alive, nine of whom were in the mosque. An additional 10 people were hurt, he said.

“Rescuers have managed to unearth two bodies, and the search is still continuing for the 17 others who were believed dead,” Anantanur said.

He added the two bodies were of boys aged six and 11.

Youths in the area studying Islam’s holy book, the Koran, traditionally sleep in the mosque. Two of the people in the mosque were teachers.

Apart from the mosque, at least 10 houses in the village were also destroyed, he said.

Seasonal downpours cause dozens of landslides and flash floods each year in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of 17,000 islands, where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.

In June, severe flooding and landslides killed more than 210 people on the island of Sulawesi.

Source: SBS World News