LANDSLIDE BURIES TWO MANINJAU LAKE RESIDENTS

Padang, W Sumatra, April 26 (ANTARA) - Rescue workers on Monday continued their search for two missing residents of Jorong Pandan, Nagari Tanjung Sani village, Tanjung Raya sub-district, Agam district, who were believed to have been buried by a landslide.

Ira, 25, and Ana, 70, still went missing after their house near Maninjau Lake was crushed by the landslide which hit the area on Sunday evening, head of Tanjung Raya sub-district, Kurniawan Syahputra, said.

"Together with local residents, rescue workers are still searching for them manually. But access to the landslide-hit area is not easy," he said.

Syahputra said he still did not know the exact number of houses destroyed or damaged by the landslides in the Jorong Talapung and Pandan areas.

"The landslide-affected areas can be reached by speedboat on Maninjau Lake," he said.

As a result of the natural disaster, tens of local residents had been evacuated to safer places.

According to the head of Agam district's natural disaster management unit, Isfaemal, the landslides occurred after torrential rains showered Jorong Talapung and Pandan for several hours on Sunday.

Many parts of Indonesia remain vulnerable to landslides.

Last March, a family of three were buried under the mud of a landslide that crushed their house in Cianjur district, West Java.

The Cianjur landslide killed ten people. Also in March, a landslide destroyed four houses and an Islamic school in Cihuni hamlet, Gandamekar village, Kadungora sub-district, Garut district.

There were no fatalities in the natural disaster but the house owners were evacuated to safer places.

On February 23, a deadly landslide hit PT Chakra's Tea Plantation in Tenjolaya village, Pasirjambu subdistrict, Bandung district , killing at least 44 people.

Among the dead victims were tea pickers and their children, including three infants.

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