Indonesia Landslides Claim at Least 15 Lives

Local Editor

Indonesian rescue teams were searching for victims of a series of landslides that killed at least 15 people on New Year's Day, officials said.

At least 20 people were missing after landslides during heavy rain buried 30 houses in Sukabumi regency, West Java.

"Loose soil is a danger to rescue teams that are working in the field," said disaster mitigation agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

Heavy rain had forced rescuers to suspend the search on Tuesday.

Indonesia is a disaster-prone archipelago that in 2018 suffered its deadliest year in over a decade in a series of earthquakes and tsunamis in different regions that killed more than 3,000 people.

The country forms part of the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is regularly hit by earthquakes. Landslides are common in the vast tropical archipelago.

An underwater landslide triggered by the eruption of the Anak Krakatau Volcano in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Sumatra and Java caused a tsunami on December 22, leaving hundreds of people dead.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team