Jakarta, Indonesia — At least five people were killed when a massive avalanche of garbage hit Indonesia’s largest landfill and several others were missing after heavy overnight rain caused a garbage dump to collapse, officials said on Monday
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Rescue workers worked carefully amid unstable piles of garbage.
More than 300 search and rescue personnel, using heavy machinery and sniffer dogs, were deployed late Sunday to the massive dump site at the Buntargebang Integrated Waste Treatment Facility in Bekasi, a city just outside the capital of Jakarta. Desiana Kartika Bahari, head of Jakarta’s search and rescue office, said rescue workers worked carefully amid unstable piles of garbage.
He said the victims included two garbage truck drivers and two food stall vendors who were working or resting near the landfill, while four people managed to escape the disaster. Rescue workers, comprising police, soldiers, and volunteers, continued their search for at least three individuals reported missing, according to Bahari.
“We have not ruled out the possibility of more victims,” he said, adding, “We are still collecting data to confirm how many vehicles and personnel are trapped under the debris.”
Photos and videos released by the national search and rescue agency showed excavators digging into the collapsed mound, where several garbage trucks and small food stalls were buried.
Abdul Muhari, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, urged strict safety protocols during the ongoing search, noting that weather forecasts for the next two days indicate possible rain in Jakarta and its surrounding satellite cities.
He warned that unstable collapsed material could trigger additional ground movement, putting rescuers at even greater risk.
Sunday’s deadly collapse brought renewed scrutiny of the Bintargebang, a vital but overwhelmed landfill that receives most of Greater Jakarta’s daily household waste. The site has faced repeated warnings about capacity, prompting national efforts to reform Indonesia’s waste management system, which aim to prevent future disasters similar to those that have occurred in the Philippines and West Java due to landfill collapses.
In January, a uniform fall of waste and workers were buried or trapped in low-lying buildings at a landfill in the Philippines, killing at least four people, injuring a dozen and leaving more than 30 others missing.
In 2005, 31 people were killed and dozens were missing when a 7 m (23 ft) garbage dump collapsed after heavy rains triggered landslides that buried or damaged 60 homes in two West Java villages near the Indonesian city of Bandung.
Late last year, the government announced a two-year deadline to clean up the Bantargebang through an accelerated waste-to-energy project aimed at reducing chronic reliance on open dumping. The initiative, backed by a new presidential regulation aimed at streamlining licensing and encouraging investment, calls for converting waste into electrical or thermal energy.
