Jakarta, Ekuatorial – Official on Monday (15/12) stated that Banjarnegara landslide that struck last Friday (12/12) was caused by erosion.
“Tegalele hill soil formation is an old volcanic sediment with thick solum [upper layers of a soil profile in which topsoil formation occurs] and it is weathering. In addition, that its slope is 60 to 80 degrees,” said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, head of Information Data Center and spokesman of National Disaster Mitigation Agency, or BNPB, on a press conference, in Jakarta.
Two days of heavy rains have caused small landslides in Banjarnegara. “But, the next day, on Friday, at 5 p.m. landslide hit Jemblung hamlet of Banjarnegara, which is listed as medium-severe areas prone to landslide. Materials slide through northern part [of the hill] following the slope of the hill,” Nugroho said adding that 20 sub-districts were categorized as prone areas for landslides in Banjarnegara district
There were two landslides occurred in Banjarnegara, he said, the first was from Tegalele hill towards Pekalongan and the second was towards Banjarnegara.
He also cited crops planted in the hill without considering its soil structure was also causing the landslide. “It is because the hill’s carrying capacity has turned very low so once rain comes, it would triggered landslides like this,” he said.
The landslide only took five minutes to bury 35 houses and a total of 17 hectares of lands, — eight hectares of paddy fields and five hectares of crops plantation–. In addition, the mud had also covered the river for one kilometer. Meanwhile, the latest data recorded that 51 people were killed and 57 people were still missing. Search and rescue mission is being hampered as big evacuation vehicles could not access mudslide areas.
“President had instructed to keep on looking for victims as best as we could. We will evaluate [the mission] after seven days,” he said. “We have yet to finalize calculate on the loss an damage.” Januar Hakam.
