Following a landslide in central Indonesia, at least 19 people have been confirmed dead and two more are missing, according to local authorities on Sunday.
According to Sulaiman Malia, head of the local disaster agency, the deceased and two survivors were evacuated from two landslide-affected villages in Tana Toraja regency, South Sulawesi province, on Saturday evening.
“Four deaths occurred in South Makale, and fifteen more occurred in Makale villages,” Malia informed AFP on Sunday. “There have been 19 fatalities.”
“At this time, we are still looking for additional victims,” he stated, saying that two people are still listed as missing, most likely buried beneath the rubble from the landslide.
It has been “continuously hit by heavy rainfall, especially over the past week, with hardly any stop” in Tana Toraja and its environs, Malia continued.
According to him, the excessive rain caused landslides that buried people’ homes as the soil in residential neighborhoods perched on steep slopes was undermined.
During the rainy season, Indonesia is prone to landslides; deforestation has made the problem worse in some areas, and protracted periods of intense rain have caused flooding in several parts of the archipelago nation.
On the island of Sumatra, last month’s flash floods and landslides claimed at least 30 lives, and many more are still unaccounted for.
At least two people were killed in December when flooding and landslides near Lake Toba in Sumatra wrecked a hotel and carried away hundreds of dwellings.
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