Landslide in Indonesia's Papua Kills 10 People
Date: 16-Jan-08
Country: INDONESIA
A local police official said that the disaster occurred on Monday afternoon after heavy downpours, combined with strong winds in the area, destabilised the hillside.
Rustam Pakaya, head of the health ministry's crisis centre in Jakarta, told Reuters that seven people were also injured and three were still missing after the landslide in the area of the provincial capital Jayapura.
"We have deployed medical teams but we don't know yet how many people have been displaced," Pakaya said.
Landslides and floods are frequent in Indonesia, where tropical downpours can quickly soaks hillsides and years of deforestation often mean there is little vegetation to hold the soil.
In December more than 100 people were killed after landslides triggered by torrential rain hit central and eastern Java.
(Reporting by Fitri Wulandari and Mita Valina Liem; Editing by Ed Davies and Alex Richardson)
