Indonesian rescue teams on Tuesday continued to search for 42 people missing after two landslides triggered by torrential rains on the Natuna Islands, authorities said.
Dozens of soldiers, police and volunteers are part of the search teams in the towns of Genting and Pangkalan, on a remote island surrounded by rough waters and high waves in the Natuna island group on the edge of the South China Sea.
Indonesia’s disaster management agency received reports that 42 people were trapped in 27 houses buried under tons of mud from the surrounding hills.
Rescue teams pulled eight people injured in the mudslides, including four people in critical condition, to a hospital in the city of Pontianak on the island of Borneo, some 285 kilometers away, according to the website of the agency.
The landslides displaced more than 1,200 people, who were transferred to various shelters.
Indonesian disaster management agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said authorities were still collecting information on casualties and damage in the affected areas.
Muhari added that two helicopters and several boats transported rescuers and support materials, including tents, blankets, food and medical equipment, from Jakarta and the nearby Natuna islands.
“Distributing relief supplies has been difficult because the wounded and displaced are scattered and difficult to reach,” Muhari said, as searches were hampered by rain in the disaster area where power lines have fallen. telecommunications and lack of heavy equipment.
In recent days, seasonal rains and high tides have triggered dozens of landslides and flooding across much of Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or on fertile plains near rivers.
Last November, at least 335 people were killed by a landslide, triggered by a magnitude 5.6 earthquake, in the West Java city of Cianjur.
Also in Malaysia, flooding has already claimed five lives and forced more than 43,000 people to flee their homes.
Malaysian police found the body of a woman, trapped in a car swept away by water, in the southern state of Johor, where four other people were also found dead.
Johor, the country’s second largest state bordering Singapore with four million people, is hardest hit by the floods, with more than 40,000 people evacuated to schools and community centers.
Several other states, including remote areas on the island of Borneo, were also affected.
Weather forecasts point to more rain and storms in parts of Johor and the eastern Malaysian states, which could cause more flash flooding. Authorities also warned that the waters of more than a dozen rivers across the country had reached dangerous levels.
Source: TSF
