Locals Face Lack of Options

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

A landslide buries houses and rice fields in Sirnaresmi village, Cisolok district, Sukabumi regency, West Java, Wednesday (2/1/2019). Officers and local residents are continuing to search for and recover victims of the landslide.

SUKABUMI, KOMPAS -- Limited land and life pressures have led to widespread use of slopes as rice fields by locals in Cimapag hamlet, Sirnaresmi village, Cisolok district, Sukabumi regency, West Java. This has resulted in landslides and destroyed locals’ lives.

“Slopes are not suitable for planting rice. However, locals have no other land,” Kasepuhan Sinar Resmi customary elder Abah Asep Nugraha said in Sukabumi on Wednesday (2/1/2019).

Sirnaresmi village is located within the customary community of Sinar Resmi. The customary community implements an environmentally friendly agriculture system. However, it is difficult for locals to find flatlands in the area, which is dominated by hills.

Asep said the villages around the location of the landslide were first established in 1941. At the time, locals planted paddy on flatlands. However, in the early 1960s, as the population continued to grow, the need for agricultural land increased and locals began to cultivate paddy on slopes.

In the future, Asep said, the customary community and the local administration would work together to help landslide survivors, including relocating them and finding them new jobs. This is to safeguard customary values that have been passed down through generations.

Among these customary values is the protection of natural balance, including the implementation of a once-per-year paddy-planting policy.

Conservation

Asep went on to say that land use, especially on slopes, would be reviewed. According to him, high water flow in the rainy season leads to landslides. “This is despite local farmers having given the land time to rest before replanting. However, nature has its own ways of maintaining the balance. Humans have to be wise in adjusting themselves. Now, the plan is to plant trees with strong roots on the slopes,” he explained.

West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil, who visited the location of the landslide, said that his administration was still focused on the emergency response period. Currently, 20 landslide victims are still missing. “In the disaster response, there are stages for emergency response and reconstruction. It will be better to discuss the relocation plan during the reconstruction period,” he said.

Kamil said the administration planned to conserve the 200-meter-high hill on the site of the landslide.

He said that many regions in West Java were prone to landslides. Of the 1,560 disasters in West Java in 2018, 550 are landslides. Landslides usually occur in West

Java’s southern half, which is dominated by hills. Meanwhile, the province’s northern half is prone to floods.

In his visit, Kamil was accompanied by Sukabumi regent Marwan Hamami and West Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Agung Budi Maryoto.

Meanwhile, the evacuation process continues. Military and police personnel as well as employees of the Sukabumi disaster mitigation agency (BPBD) and the search and rescue (SAR) agency and volunteers, were involving in the search for survivors. Two excavators and two diesel-fueled water pumps were also deployed to accelerate the search process.

0622/Sukabumi regency military district commander Lieut. Col. Haris Sukarman said that 13 dead bodies had been recovered and 20 survivors might be buried under mud and rubble.

“Material losses include 30 damaged homes, dozens of dead cattle and 25 damaged granaries,” he said.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Willem Rampangilei said that uncertain weather and potential subsequent landslides obstructed evacuation of survivors.

Willem said he had checked the availability of equipment and medicines. The search and rescue team has requested more equipment, including latex gloves, water pump hose and facemasks. (TAM/RTG/BOW/KEL)