As of Monday morning, officials reported 46 people affected: 23 survivors, 15 confirmed dead and eight still missing. SAR Mission Coordinator Muhammad Abdullah said clearer weather was helping crews expand their work.
“We hope today’s conditions allow us to maximize the search so all victims can be found,” he said at the disaster site in Majenang.
Teams used three parallel methods: thermal drones to detect heat signatures under the debris, trained search dogs to sweep buried homes, and heavy machinery to dig through dense mud and fallen earth.
Abdullah said these combined tactics were designed to widen the search area and raise the chances of locating victims more quickly.
The operation remains divided into four worksites: A1 and A2 in Cibuyut Hamlet and B1 and B2 in Tarukahan Hamlet. Each site has a field coordinator preparing safer evacuation routes as the soil gradually stabilizes.
Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) began weather-modification efforts Sunday to reduce rainfall over the area.
Abdullah said the operation helped produce clear skies from late Sunday into Monday morning, improving visibility for ground teams.
By 10 a.m. Monday, rescuers had recovered two more bodies at Worksite A2: 9-year-old Nilna Nur Fauziah at 8:57 a.m. and 15-year-old Wafik Nur Aini Zahra at 9:37 a.m. Crews also retrieved two motorcycles from Worksite B2.
The landslide struck Thursday evening, November 13, burying homes in Tarukahan and Cibuyut and damaging 12 houses while threatening 16 more across roughly 6.5 hectares.
The collapse created two-meter-deep subsidence and a 25-meter ground crack, complicating recovery work.
A village hall and a nearby school have been converted into temporary shelters.
BNPB Spokesman Abdul Muhari said both facilities now have adequate public kitchens to support displaced families. More than 28 households have been evacuated due to unstable soil and the risk of further slides.
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Translator: Sumarwoto, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: M Razi Rahman
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