Banser members told to be alert and responsive to disaster

Kudus, NU Online
The Regional Coordination Unit of the Multipurpose Ansor Front (Satkorwil Banser) of Central Java instructed its members to remain alert and responsive to disaster by setting up a command post at the disaster areas.

The commander of the Satkorwil Banser H Hasyim Asy'ari made the statement on Sunday (19/6) through his personal facebook account addressed to all Banser members throughout Central Java following flash flooding and landslides in several cities in Central Java.

Hasyim Asy'ari called on the Banser members to be deployed in helping the victims in accordance with the need on the ground.

"To all Satkorcab Banser Central Java especially in disaster-hit regencies and towns, I instruct all of you to be fully alert and set up a command post at NU the offices or disaster areas," he said.

As reported by AFP, flash flooding and landslides in Central Java have killed 35 people and left more than two dozen others missing, officials say, with mud avalanches burying people inside their homes.

Torrential rain since Saturday has triggered serious flooding across Central Java, with thousands of homes inundated, said disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

"The number of casualties from floods and landslides in Central Java is 35 people dead, 25 people missing and 14 injured," Mr Sutopo said in a statement.

Footage aired by local broadcasters showed villagers sitting on their roofs to escape the rising water, their cars and homes submerged in brown water.

Areas prone to landslides in the densely-populated province were the worst hit, with drivers swept off roads and dozens of homes destroyed by fast-moving walls of mud, rock and water.

In one district, five people were buried in their homes as a landslide swept through the village. In another, nine people were killed as they tried to clear rubble from a road.

"Suddenly a huge landslide struck the cars and people on the street. Nine bodies were retrieved," Mr Sutopo said in a statement.

Search and rescue crews are combing villages for missing people, Mr Sutopo added.

Temporary shelters have been erected to help those evacuated from the disaster zone.

Landslides are not uncommon in Indonesia.

Last month, 15 students holidaying at a popular tourist spot in western Indonesia were killed when a landslide swept through their camp ground. (Masdar)