35 Tewas Akibat Banjir Bandang dan Longsor di Jawa Disorot Dunia
35 Dead in Indonesian Floods, Landslides
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
BANJIR BANDANG dan tanah longsor di Pulau Jawa menewaskan sedikitnya 35 orang dan merusak puluhan rumah, kata seorang pejabat Minggu, ketika para petugas penyelamat berupaya menyelamatkan korban yang selamat.
Puluhan orang masih dinyatakan hilang atau terluka setelah hujan deras dan banjir yang melanda Jawa, dan banjir merendam ribuan rumah.
Daerah rawan longsor di wilayah padat penduduk di Provinsi Jawa Tengah yang paling parah, berdampak pada jalan yang rusak dan puluhan rumah hancur dilanda banjir bandang, batu dan air yang bergerak cepat.
Tayangan televisi menunjukkan warga desa duduk di atap untuk menghindari banjir, mobil dan rumah terendam air bercampur lumpur.
"Jumlah korban akibat banjir dan tanah longsor di Jawa Tengah sekitar 35 orang tewas, 25 orang hilang dan 14 luka-luka," kata juru bicara Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
Daerah dengan dampak terparah adalah Kabupaten Purworejo di pantai selatan Jawa, di mana 19 orang tewas, katanya.
Dalam satu insiden di kabupaten tersebut, sembilan orang tewas ketika mereka mencoba untuk melintas di jalan yang dilanda banjir bandang.
"Tiba-tiba tanah longsor besar melanda mobil dan orang-orang di jalan. Ditemukan sembilan mayat," kata Sutopo.
Di Banjarnegara, di mana enam orang tewas dalam longsoran lumpur, warga siap siaga menghadapi banjir susulan. Petugas terus berusaha membersihkan jalan dari pohon yang roboh dan batu yang terseret oleh longsor besar, kata jurnalis AFP di tempat kejadian seperti dikutip MailOnline.
Alat berat digunakan untuk mencari korban di Purworejo tetapi akses jalan masih tertutup longsor, kata Sutopo.
Ratusan tim penyelamat sedang berupaya untuk menggeser puing-puing dengan tangan kosong di beberapa daerah.
Pusat-pusat evakuasi korban bencana, dilengkapi dengan tempat penampungan sementara dan dapur umum, telah didirikan di dekat zona bencana.
Sutopo mengatakan pada Minggu bahwa sebagian banjir telah surut namun ia memperingatkan penduduk untuk tetap waspada karena hujan lebat diperkirakan masih berlangsung.
Bencana tanah longsor kerap terjadi di Indonesia, yang rawan bencana alam dan hujan deras.
Bulan lalu 15 mahasiswa berlibur di tempat wisata populer di Indonesia bagian barat tewas ketika tanah longsor melanda tempat mereka berkemah.
FLASH FLOODS and landslides in central Indonesia have killed at least 35 people and destroyed dozens of homes, an official said Sunday, as searchers scoured devastated villages for survivors.
Dozens were also missing or injured following torrential rain and widespread flooding on the main island of Java, where thousands of homes have been swamped.
Areas prone to landslides across densely-populated Central Java province have been worst hit, with drivers swept off roads and dozens of homes completely destroyed by fast-moving walls of mud, rock and water.
TV footage showed villagers sitting on rooftops to escape the rising water, their cars and homes submerged in brown water.
"The number of casualties from floods and landslides in Central Java is 35 people dead, 25 people missing and 14 injured," said disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
The worst-hit area was Purworejo district on Java's south coast, where 19 people were killed, he said.
In one incident in the district, nine people died as they tried to clear rubble from a blocked road.
"Suddenly a huge landslide struck the cars and people on the street. Nine bodies were retrieved," Sutopo said.
In Banjarnegara, where six people were killed in an avalanche of mud, residents were bracing for the prospect of further floods. Emergency crews were trying to clear roads of felled trees and rocks dumped by huge landslides, an AFP journalist at the scene said.
Heavy lifting equipment was being used in the hunt for survivors in Purworejo but access to sites elsewhere was difficult, said Sutopo.
Hundreds of rescuers were being forced to shift debris with their bare hands in some areas.
Evacuation centres, equipped with temporary shelters and kitchens, have been erected near the disaster zones.
Sutopo said late Sunday that much of the flooding had subsided but he warned people to stay on alert as heavy rains could continue into the next day.
Landslides are not uncommon in Indonesia, a vast tropical archipelago prone to natural disasters and torrential downpours.
Last month 15 students holidaying at a popular tourist spot in western Indonesia were killed when a landslide swept through their camp ground.
