SAR Team Halts Search for Cililin Landslide Victims

A joint search and rescue team has decided to halt the search for three remaining missing victims of a landslide in Cililin, West Java.

Spokesman of the National Disaster and Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on Sunday that after discussions between the agency, the victims' families and local public figures on Saturday evening, it was agreed not to extend the one-week search efforts.

“The effort to search for the landslide victims was halted because of medical considerations and the subsequent impact if the remains are found,” Sutopo told Investor Daily.

Fifteen death victims have been found, while three others — Imas (50) and four-month old baby Jesika — have not been found.

The last body, found on Sunday morning, was identified as 18-year-old Iis.

Sutopo said that with the victims having been buried for too long, their remains must have had already decomposed seriously. He said that the findings of the decomposed bodies could be hazardous to the search team members.

He added that the weather at the site also posed the danger of causing another landslide.

“The family of the victims have agreed to let them go,” Sutopo said.

The Cililin landslide took place last week after hours of torrential rains. Dozens of residents were forced to flee their homes after seven houses were buried by the slide.

It is the second deadly landslide to strike Indonesia this month. Three people were killed and one injured after heavy downpours triggered a landslide in Papua’s provincial capital earlier this month.

Sutopo said the West Java government will relocate to a safer place, those who had lost their houses in the landslide.

“The site for the relocation is up to the victims and the government will appropriate the land, in a safe area, of course,” Sutopo said. “The provincial government will help the construction of the houses.”

Sutopo also said that the agency is active in training people in landslide-prone area to anticipate such disaster.

The Cililin landslide is the latest after a landslide killed three people and injured another earlier in March after days of heavy rain drenched Jayapura, Papua. The landslide destroyed a home in the Gereja Emanuel housing complex in North Jayapura. Three occupants, ages 17 to 26, were killed in the landslide.

Tuesday 2 April 2013

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