80 missing, 10 dead in Indonesia landslide

A severe landslide in a residential area of West Java province, Indonesia, has killed 10 people, and authorities have resumed operations to find another 80 people who are missing. The natural disaster occurred early Saturday morning due to heavy rains that have been falling since last Friday, and weather authorities have warned that several regions, including the province, could experience further heavy rainfall over the next week.

Residents of the mountainous village of Pasir Langu, located about 100 kilometers southeast of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, state that although minor floods have been reported from the river near their village before, this is the first time they have faced such a massive landslide coming from the direction of the forest.

Due to unstable soil layers in the hilly area and continuous rainfall, authorities are reportedly facing severe obstacles in deploying heavy machinery for relief operations. Flood conditions have been reported from several areas in West Java province and around the capital Jakarta, and severely affected residents have taken steps to evacuate their homes to higher ground or safe locations.

It is noteworthy that this latest disaster has been reported against the backdrop of floods and landslides caused by a cyclone on Sumatra island about two months before this disaster, which killed approximately 1,200 people and displaced over a million.