Camelia Pasandaran – Residents of the Dewata tea plantation in Tenjolaya village, Bandung, had just started the day on Tuesday when they heard an unusual noise.
Just a few moments later, they were shocked to discover that a large part of the 500-hectare plantation and factory had been covered with soil and debris, burying an employee housing complex, mosque, warehouse and sports fields.
"I was on the other side of the hill," Ahmad Sohidin, field manager of the Dewata tea plantation, told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday. "I saw people running out trying to escape, but it wasn't easy. Two of the employees who ran out onto the tennis courts were buried alive."
Ahmad said that on Monday morning, after heavy rain, he noticed water in a spring had turned brown – an sign that the soil could have loosened. "I checked other parts of the plantation, but I didn't find any other signs of a possible landslide," he said. At 8:20 a.m. on Tuesday, however, he realized he was wrong.
Out of the thousands of people living on the plantation, 43 were still missing, including 13 children, officials told the Globe on Wednesday. Sixteen had been found dead. An old man was crying on Wednesday as he walked away from the site. "He's just been told that his wife was found dead," a man walking behind him said. "I don't know his name, but we called the wife Mamiek."
People streaming in and out of the area bore different expressions – some children were waving happily at passing cars, while others looked worried and tired after walking for more than 15 kilometers. Others wandered aimlessly.
Soldiers, police officers and residents gathered at a mosque on the plantation, which has become an ad-hoc office to organize data on the victims. Inside, four dead bodies lay on the floor, covered with plastic sheets. An old lady sat silent near the bodies with a vacant look on her face.
The landslide is the first such disaster to strike the plantation, established by the Dutch in the 1920s. Some of the residents have been working there for more than 30 years.
"This is not our fault," said Rachmat Badruddin, president director of PT Cakra, which bought the plantation and factory in 1956 from a Dutch company. "We have been living here in harmony with nature. We don't destroy the forest at all. The 4,000 employees working for our five plantations are like a big family, and none of us think of destroying the environment. There's no employer and employee. We're all a family.
"I guess the landslide was caused by the torrential rain. It reached 1,000 millimeters this month," he said. "Normally, it is only 200 millimeters."
The Dewata plantation produces five tons of dry tea leaves per year from its two factories, 80 percent of which is exported to Europe, primarily to Britain.
Kawaludin, an expert from the mining division of the West Java government, explained that because the plantation's top soil was very rich, the trees find enough nutrients and do not need to root themselves deeper. They then have a weak hold on the land, which becomes vulnerable to sliding.
West Java Deputy Governor Dede Yusuf said that he planned to close the plantation as well as the housing complex, as the area has been declared dangerous.
Rachmat said that he hoped the government would reconsider. "This plantation has been operating for 55 years," he said. "We're not just interested in profits. We contribute to the government by employing 4,000 people and ensuring livelihoods for more than 10,000 people."