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Landslide Leaves 17 Dead, More Than 90 Missing in Indonesia: Officials

© REUTERS / Anis EfizudiVillagers use shovels to remove mud from the main road at Pasuruhan village in Wonosobo December 12, 2014, in this photo taken by Antara Foto
Villagers use shovels to remove mud from the main road at Pasuruhan village in Wonosobo December 12, 2014, in this photo taken by Antara Foto - Sputnik International
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Indonesian village destroyed after landslide follows heavy rains.

The warning of a tsunami threat south of Indonesia that was issued on Saturday following two earthquakes with a 7.3-magnitude has been cancelled. - Sputnik International
Indonesia Cancels Tsunami Alert Following 7.3-Magnitude Earthquake
MOSCOW, December 13 (Sputnik) – A landslide on the Indonesian island of Java has claimed at least 17 lives, more than 90 others have been declared missing, the BBC reports.

"Rescuers are still trying to find more victims. The challenge is that the evacuation route is also damaged by the landslide," Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency, told al-Jazeera.  "Conditions on the ground are pretty tough and we need heavy machines to clear the road that has been covered by the landslide."

Torrential rains caused the disaster on Friday afternoon, when a mudslide covered about 105 houses in the village of Jemblung in Banjarnegara district, about 450km from the nation's capital, Jakarta. According to Al-Jazeera, on Saturday 379 people had been taken to temporary shelters.

The agency reported that after two days of constant rain, the village was destroyed by a flood of mud and water flowing down the mountainside. Seven hundred rescue workers and volunteers are working on the rescue effort, which has been hampered by the muddy conditions and a lack of equipment.

Indonesia's 17,500 islands are home to 250 million people, around half of whom live in areas that are susceptible to flooding. The country is currently experiencing its rainy season, in which heavy downpours frequently cause landslides and flash floods.

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