REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANJARNEGARA -- The Banjarnegara district administration in Central Java has decided to extend the emergency status that has been issued in the district following landslides until January 18, 2015.

"Based on the decision of the Banjarnegara district head, the emergency status has been extended to another two weeks, from January 5 to 18, 2015," the day-to-day chief of the local Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), Catur Subandrio, said here on Monday.

According to Catur, during the first phase of the emergency status, from December 22, 2014, to January 4, 2015, the BPBD had made preparations to relocate survivors from Jemblung hamlet to other areas.

The agency had also carried out a number of activities to anticipate another landslide following the one on December 12, 2014.

Catur noted a landslide again hit the hamlet at 06.05 p.m. on Sunday (January 4) following heavy rains. The landslide covered the Banjarnegara-Karangkobar road and a steel-plated emergency bridge in the hamlet.

"We will relocate the survivors in homes built on land owned by the Banjarnegara district government or other places sought by local residents," he remarked.

He added that the agency has been eager to use the local government-owned land located in the east of Karangkobar market. The land covers an area of 5,700 square meters, which is enough for relocation.

However, any decision on the land will depend on the result of a land feasibility test conducted by Bandung-based Volcanology and Geology Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG), he remarked.

"If PVMBG declares the land feasible and safe, we will soon carry out the relocation," he added.

Meanwhile, some 93 bodies have been found since a landslide hit Banjarnegara on December 12.

Some 22 families from Jemblung hamlet in Sampang village, and 36 families from Pencil hamlet in Karangtengah village, both in Banjarnegara district, will be relocated.

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