At Least 12 Die in Indonesian Landslides
Pastor Dale Morgan
At Least 12 Die in Indonesian Landslides*
Monday February 19, 2007 3:31 AM
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Twin landslides hit Indonesia's Java island
Sunday, killing at least 12 people after they were buried under mounds
of earth, officials said.
Rescuers searched for survivors on Monday near Magelang in central Java
province, where eight people working on an irrigation project were
killed and two others remained missing, said Rustam Pakaya from the
Health Ministry's disaster crisis center.
In west Java, four people digging for sand on a hillside were killed in
a second landslide, local government officials said.
Seasonal downpours cause dozens of landslides and flash floods each year
in Indonesia, a vast chain of 17,000 islands, where millions of people
live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.
Earlier this month, floods in the capital, Jakarta, killed almost 100
people and paralyzed large sections of the city.