Heavy rains and cars blocking the roads hampered rescue efforts in Indonesia after a deadly landslide on East Java. Many of those missing were working on ginger farms when the hillside gave way.
Image: Reuters/Antara Foto/Destyan Sujarwoko
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Non-stop rain on Sunday prevented rescuers from continuing their search for people still missing after the landslide. Debris up to 20 meters (66 feet) high was being searched with mechanical diggers. The landslide was 800 meters long and had overturned vehicles, destroyed and buried buildings.
At least two people were killed and 26 feared buried after a landslide hit 32 houses in the village of Banaran in Ponorogo district, East Java, on Saturday morning. The chief of staff of the local army, Lt. Col. Jemz Ratu Edo, said on Sunday that two bodies had been found before the search was suspended for the day.
Rescuers searched for survivors after Saturday morning's landslideImage: Reuters/Antara Foto/Zabur Karuru
Sutopo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, said: "The challenge is the road to the disaster zone is very narrow...and there are many cars now because people want to watch, so they interrupt or hinder the mobility of the team."
Government officials went on motor bikes to inspect the damage on Sunday:
A team of 1,655 people have been deployed to search for people buried in the landslide. After two people were confirmed dead, a further 26 - or more - were still missing on Sunday. Lt. Col. Slamet Sarijanto said that according to villagers, 38 people were buried by the landslide.
Residents had defied an evacuation order from the night before to harvest crops, authorities said. The landslide overturned vehicles, shattered and buried buildings, and left a massive scar on a hillside where lush vegetation had been torn away.
Nugroho said residents had been warned about the threat of a landslide by local authorities and evacuated the area the night before. But they returned in the early morning to work, many of them harvesting ginger on a hillside when they were hit.
Floods inundate parts of Indonesian capital Jakarta
Jakarta has been hit hard by hours of heavy torrential rain, flooding the capital's streets and submerging thousands of homes. It isn't immediately clear how many have been displaced by the flooding.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/AP-Photo/D. Alangkara
Massive flooding
Jakarta, a bustling metropolis of some 10 million inhabitants, was hit by widespread flooding on Tuesday after hours of torrential rain. Water up to 1.5 meters deep deluged parts of the Indonesian capital after a major thunderstorm overnight, and the country's disaster agency received more than 400 reports of flooding across the city.
Image: Getty Images/AFP
Overwhelmed
The flooding occurred after Jakarta's drains were overwhelmed by the heavy rains and unable to cope with the torrents of water unleashed by the storm, said disaster mitigation agency spokesperson Purwo Nugroho.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/D. Alangkara
Widespread impact
The disaster mitigation agency said Tuesday that more than 50 areas are flooded in Jakarta, with waters up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) high in East Jakarta. Local media reported that a worker for the city government died and one person drowned in Bekasi, a Jakarta satellite city.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Ap Photo/D. Alangkara
A fact of life
Floods and deadly landslides are a fact of life for Indonesians during the wet season. Jakarta is hit by flooding to some degree every year during this period, with the city's numerous riverside communities being worst affected.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/AP-Photo/D. Alangkara
Worst experience
The picture shows children playing in the flood water near their house in Karet Pasar Baru, Tanah Abang district. Jakarta suffered one of its worst seasonal inundations in recent history in January 2013. The flooding submerged parts of the city, forced tens of thousands of people out of their homes and left over 20 dead.
The image shows a street vendor wading through flood waters in the Mangga Dua business district in Jakarta. The city, which has about 30 million people in its greater metropolitan area, says it has reduced the number of flood-prone areas since then by dredging rubbish-filled rivers, and other measures.
Image: Reuters/Beawiharta
Many casualties
Earlier this month, up to 40,000 people were caught in severe flooding following days of torrential rain in central Indonesia and 13 people were killed in landslides on the resort island of Bali.
