Floods in southern Kalimantan have killed more than a dozen people and displaced tens of thousands. Rescue workers are still searching for several missing and dreaded buried under the mud 10 days after landslides broke up a village in West Java. And divers continue to search for casualties and crucial data on the wreckage of Sriwijaya Air Flight 182, which crashed into the Java Sea on January 9, with 62 people on board.
Meanwhile, two volcanoes on the island’s most populous island, Java, throw ashes into the air, with hundreds of people evacuated from the slopes of Mount Merapi in recent weeks.
Seventy-three people died in Friday’s quake in the city of Mamuju, north of the epicenter, while another 11 died in Majene, a city about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Mamuju. Thousands of residents fled their homes in search of safety, but many remain trapped under collapsed buildings, according to local search and rescue teams.
At least 253 people were seriously injured and another 679 sustained minor injuries, said Raditya Jati of Indonesia’s National Board for Disaster Management. The quake also caused a power outage and caused three landslides along the main road linking Majene and Mamuju.
The earthquake has created an additional headache for a nation that is already battling a serious coronavirus outbreak. Indonesia has reported at least 907,929 cases of Covid-19 and about 26,000 related deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The head of Indonesia’s disaster management agency, Doni Monardo, said on Sunday that rapid antigen testing kits were being provided at evacuation centers to check and locate the possible transmission of Covid-19 among the 19,435 people. displaced by the earthquake.
“Later there will be an antigen swab process, to ensure that refugees are not exposed to Covid-19,” Doni said. He added that displacement centers have been asked to separate vulnerable groups from young people to prevent the spread of the virus.
The Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency warned that aftershocks could still occur and urged those living in mountainous areas to be aware of landslides. People living near the coast were also warned to move away from the beach in the event of a tsunami.
Meanwhile, rescue teams continued to release people trapped under collapsed buildings in various parts of Mamuju, including two hotels and a hospital. “People report that their relatives are trapped under collapsed houses and are asking for our help,” Ariyanto Ardi, head of section of the local disaster management department, told CNN on Saturday.
“We still don’t have details of how many people are buried under these flattened buildings,” he added.
Riding the so-called “ring of fire” of the Pacific, Indonesia, a nation with high tectonic activity, is regularly affected by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. In 2018, a 6.2-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck the city of Palu in Sulawesi, killing thousands.
Mount Merapi, Indonesia’s most active volcano, began erupting on January 4th. Since then, 500 people have been living on its fertile slopes or have been evacuated, according to the Magelang District Disaster Management Department.
On Monday, Merapi continued to release lava as hot clouds and ash rose 1 kilometer into the air, according to the Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation. The agency said six lava flows could be seen, descending 600 meters along its southwest slope.
Also on the island of Java, Indonesia’s highest volcano, Mount Semeru, began throwing lava, ash and smoke on Saturday.
Floods and landslides
Floods caused by heavy rains in South Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo this week have killed at least 15 people and displaced more than 100,000.
Waters of up to 1.5 meters flooded more than 20,000 homes in 10 districts of the province, according to Raditya, the disaster management agency.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday visited the areas affected by the floods while rescue teams distributed aid, including food, tarpaulins and blankets, to those in need.
Separately, at least six people were killed in floods and landslides in the northern Sulawesi town of Manado on Saturday.
The Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency warned that more rain could come, saying the region was in the midst of a rainy season, which will last until February.
Meanwhile, rescue workers continue to search for victims through mud and debris 10 days after a landslide, caused by heavy rains and unstable ground conditions, that swept through the village of Cihanjuang, in the province of West Java. On Monday, four bodies were removed from the mud, raising the death toll to 33. Rescue workers are searching for four people still missing, according to the West Java Search and Rescue Agency.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands, often suffers from floods and landslides, especially during the rainy season from November to March. In December 2019 and January 2020, severe floods in Jakarta caused by the worst rainfall recorded, left areas of the capital underwater and affected more than 400,000 people.
Experts have expressed concern that this extreme climate could become a new norm due to the climate crisis.
Sriwijaya Air crashes
In another disaster that shook the nation of Southeast Asia, divers continue to search for the wreckage of Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 while authorities continue to investigate the cause of the crash.
On Friday, search teams located the voice recorder in the cockpit, but the memory unit was not in the case, Soerjanto Tjahjono, chairman of the National Transportation Security Committee, told CNN.
Despite the missing memory drive, Soerjanto said they believed they could still recover data.
Also Friday, the committee successfully downloaded the information contained in the recovered flight data logger, which was found by divers and a remotely operated submarine vehicle last week.
“There are 330 parameters and they are all in good condition. We are currently studying it,” Soerjanto said.
The findings from the flight data logger data have so far confirmed previous reports that the two engines were still running when the plane touched down.
Efforts are also continuing to find and identify those who died on board. On Sunday, divers recovered 10 bags of human remains, as well as parts and debris from the plane itself.
Masrur Jamaluddin reported from Jakarta, Helen Regan wrote from Hong Kong. CNN’s Julia Hollingsworth and Yosef Riadi contributed to the information.