Indonesian Landslide kills at least 40

A landslide, triggered by heavy rains, has claimed at least 40 lives and scores are still yet to be found. Relief efforts have rushed to help the needy though telephone lines have been cut and thus hindering the process. As many roads have been cut off due to the disaster, heavy machinery to aid in rescue efforts have also been unable to reach the villages in need. As of 3^rd march 2007, at least 40 corpses have been recovered but there are about 29 more people believed to be stranded or buried under the huge mass of mud.

I feel extremely fortunate that I am able to live in a country such as Singapore as not only is it a flourishing nation, it is extremely safe from natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes and tsunamis just to name a few. For example, during the Tsunami tragedy, which hit several Asian countries, Singapore did not have to deal with the impact of the natural disaster as our neighbouring countries “shielded” the deadly waves from us.

I also sympathise the victims of the landslide. Due to the heavy rains not only occurring in Indonesia, but also in Singapore, the natural disaster was triggered and claimed many lives. Not only that, it also left many homeless, with no food, shelter, or water. Instant noodles, canned fish, cooking oil and emergency tents were all that was distributed to some villages.

It was reported in the article that seasonal downpours cause dozens of deadly landslides and floods every year in Indonesia, “a vast chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous regions or near fertile flood plains”. Last month, floods alone killed nearly 100 people and impacted huge sections of the nation.

Indonesia, being a nation prone to natural disasters, should, in my opinion, have a more efficient rescue and relief effort. Knowing that natural disasters are frequent in the country, I feel Indonesians should always be prepared, for example pack a bag with essential items like dry food, a radio and water so that they can flee with this bag upon knowing that a disaster is going to hit them. Weather stations should also be quicker to broadcast warnings and evacuation should be more efficient to lower the death toll of natural disasters.

I trust that if Indonesia and the people are more prepared for such events, the death toll would seriously decline.

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Sources: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/03/03/indonesia.landslide.ap/index.html