At least 300 people in an Indonesian village in central Java have probably been buried and killed by a landslide unleashed by heavy rain, the UN said.

 

A torrent of mud slammed into Sijeruk village, 370 kilometers (230 miles) east of Jakarta.

 

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva said in a statement that "local authorities fear at least 300 people" were buried in Sijeruk.

 

Local officials also said the landslide covered about six hectares (15 acres) and that the mud was up to five meters (16 feet) deep.

 

Television footage showed only the tops of tiled roofs of some houses visible, along with smashed timber debris and other semi-flattened brick and concrete homes.

 

The landslide -- which hit the village at about 5:00 AM Wednesday (22:00 GMT Tuesday) after three days of monsoon rains -- was the second disaster this week to hit the island of Java, caused by monsoon rains and, activists charged, deforestation.

 

In the district of Jember, about 800 kilometers east of Jakarta, flash flooding has killed 77 people since Saturday, "including 71 in the sub-district of Panti, the area most affected by the torrential rain," the UN office said.

 

According to OCHA, 9,500 people have been left homeless in the district, and nearly 7,000 are living in temporary camps.

 

In Sijeruk, local chief of police operations Budi said about 150 police and soldiers were involved in rescue operations, which were halted overnight and set to resume early Thursday.

 

A district welfare official, Umar Yulianto, said late Wednesday that the confirmed death toll stood at 16. Local television said some 300 people were thought missing.

 

Environmentalists blamed both disasters on rampant illegal logging as well as land conversion for farming on Java, one of the world's most densely populated islands, and called on the government to take action.

 

"We can look forward to another disaster if they don't stop (deforestation) and if they don't reforest areas with original species to make new natural forests," Greenpeace Southeast Asia forestry campaigner Hapsoro told AFP.

 

"This is a sign for the Indonesian government to be more serious."

 

 

 

(Chinadaily.com via agencies January 5, 2006)