JAKARTA: Twelve people were killed and 11 houses buried after a landslide triggered by heavy rain in Indonesia’s main island of Java, an official said on Sunday.

The landslide hit Tegal Panjang village in Sukabumi district in west Java late on Saturday after a particularly heavy downpour, according to national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

“We found all 12 bodies,” he said in an update, revising the earlier death toll of 10 and two missing.

He said heavy rain caused a cliff to collapse and hit the village, burying 11 houses.

Landslides triggered by heavy rain and floods are common in tropical Indonesia during the rainy season. The national disaster agency estimates around half the country’s 250 million population lives in areas prone to landslides.

The vast Indonesian archipelago, one of the world’s most disaster-prone nations, is also frequently hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play