CIANJUR, WEST JAVA — An earthquake on Monday (21/11/2022) with a magnitude of 5.6 had killed hundreds of residents of Cianjur, West Java. Cugenang Subdistrict with 16 villages was the most severe point for the impact of this disaster. Head of the Government and Community Empowerment Section of Cugenang District, Muhammad Hari Ramdan Mulyadi, revealed that the highest number of deaths was in Cibulakan Village. The second place was Gasol Village.
According to him, Cugenang was an agricultural area because the livelihoods of most of the residents were farming and gardening. A total of 105,777 residents in Cugenang were mostly farmers who grew vegetables. When there was an earthquake tragedy that afternoon, many of the residents were gardening, both in the garden and in the rice fields.
This district is passed by the Cibeureum river to the Cianjur river. The large number of people who farm and garden can be seen from the use of land with a total area of 6,600 hectares, which has been used for rice fields covering an area of 1,800 hectares and 2,400 hectares for plantations.
In fact, many agricultural lands or plantations in this district are located on the outskirts of cliffs that are prone to landslides. The earthquake that occurred finally had an impact on the landslide in the hills. Many landslides had closed the main roads in Cugenang.
“The soil is unstable. We often announce the heads of their respective villages related to the condition of the soil contours,” said Hari in his statement on Wednesday (23/11/2022).
Cianjur Regent Herman Suherman at a press conference at the Cianjur Pendopo, Friday (2/12/2022) said that the searching process was still being extended until Saturday (3/12/2022). On another occasion, Ahmad Barqu Sudjai as the Disaster Management Center (DMC) team of Dompet Dhuafa said, DMC since day one had helped a lot in searching and evacuation process. The team would also always be ready whenever needed in any humanitarian response action.
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“Cugenang District is the worst affected. DMC Dompet Dhuafa and other joint SAR teams also found and evacuated many victims in this area,” Barqu said.Good friends! #IniTentangKita. With our efforts and confidence that our humanitarian support is strengthening them, let’s help them in this situation through digital.dompetdhuafa.org/indonesiasiapsiaga. (Dompet Dhuafa / Muthohar)