Indonesia Landslide Death Toll Rises

Indonesia Landslide Death Toll Rises

Indonesia’s president visits the scene of a landslide where the death toll had risen to at least 24 on Sunday. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Sunday (December 14) visited the scene of a landslide where he said he would assess whether more heavy-lifting equipment was needed. Indonesian search teams on Sunday used heavy-lifting equipment for the first time to clear roads leading to the site of the landslide that destroyed a village and killed at least 24 people, officials said, with scores still missing.  

Police, soldiers and volunteers were using their bare hands and makeshift tools to search for survivors and clear the area on Saturday (December 13) after the disaster happened on Friday (December 12) night. Hundreds have been evacuated from around Jemblung village in the Banjarnegara district of central Java, about 450 km (280 miles) from the capital, Jakarta, where media pictures showed a flood of mud and water cascading down a wooded mountainside.  

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said 24 people had been killed, 84 were missing and 577 people from the surrounding areas had been taken to temporary shelters. There were 2,000 people involved in the search and rescue operation on Sunday, he said.

Read the full story at Reuters.

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