Heavy rain in Sumatra's west coast in Indonesia caused landslides on Friday, July 14, hitting cemeteries and dislodging graves.

A landslide struck the Public Cemetery (TPU) of the South Coast Family Association in Padang City causing numerous graves to be dislodged. The incident occurred on Friday following heavy rain and severe weather conditions.

Located on the slopes of Subarang Padang hills in South Padang, the cemetery was affected by the landslide during the night. Dozens of graves were reportedly swept away, resulting in bodies being scattered on the burial hill.

Additionally, 30 other cemeteries were impacted by the landslide, prompting their relocation due to cloth fragments hanging on the hillside. Local authorities, including the South Padang Police and BPBD Padang City, joined forces with the community to collect the bodies and bring them to residents' homes nearby. The BPBD is the Indonesian board for natural disaster affairs.

The affected bodies varied, ranging from recently buried to those interred long ago. The search for skeletal remains continues under the dedicated efforts of local residents. Once evacuated, families will reinter the bodies in alternate locations.

Currently, 11 bodies have been successfully evacuated by residents and assisted by the police and relevant institutions. The search for other bodies is ongoing, and approximately 30 more affected graves will be relocated by residents and BPBD in the near future.

Contains a soundbite in Indonesian from a local BPBD official.

After the extreme weather hit the city of Padang, the impact of flooding and landslides was in the city of Padang. One of them is the Public Cemetery (TPU) of the South Coast Family Association in Padang City, West Sumatra, which was hit by a landslide. Dozens of corpses that were in the TPU came out of the graves, even dragged down by the landslide material. Friday. (14/07/2023).

The cemetery is located on the slopes of the Subarang Padang hills, South Padang, Padang City. Where the incident occurred at night when the city of Padang was hit by heavy rains causing dozens of cemeteries to be swept away by landslides, so that the bodies were scattered on the slopes of the burial hill.

Not only that, the impact of the landslide at the public cemetery affected 30 other cemeteries which had to be re-disassembled, because some pieces of cloth were already hanging on the hillside. It is not possible to continue to be buried in that location.

The local community was assisted by the South Padang Police and BPBD Padang City. Working hard to collect bodies that were scattered due to landslides to residents' homes not far from that location.

The bodies affected by the landslide varied, there were new bodies in the graves and there were also bodies that had been buried for a long time and while the bones of the bodies were still being searched by the local community. All bodies that have been evacuated will be reburied by their respective families in another place.

BPBD Team Officer Padang Riko City. He said that he confirmed the existence of a public cemetery in the South Padang area that experienced landslides at night, where the city of Padang experienced extreme weather, heavy rain.

"The grave is located on the slope of a hillside, where the cemetery is owned by the Pesisir Selatan Family Association and residents around here as well. So that people who have families buried here have come to the location to see if their family's burial was affected by the landslide," he said.

Until now, the bodies, which were still intact, affected by the landslide, had been evacuated by local residents, assisted by the police and the institution, as many as 11 bodies had been evacuated. Meanwhile, residents are still searching for other bodies.

"Of the 11 bodies that have been evacuated, it is possible that there will be affected cemeteries that must be dismantled by residents as many as 30 bodies which will be evacuated by residents and BPBD later," he explained.