Indonesian 'MacGyver' creates landslide-warning device
An elementary school dropout from Klampok district in Banjarnegara, Central Java, has created a detection device to warn people of landslides.
Sudarsono, 45, who volunteers at the disaster mitigation agency (BPBD) of the regency that has suffered multiple landslides, built the device with a budget of less than Rp 5 million. He called it Elwasi after the Javanese words eling (remember), waspada (cautious) and siaga (prepared).
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Elwasi consists of several components including a solar panel connected to a battery, a rope to be planted in the land prone to landslides, a lamp and a speaker for the siren.
“When the land moves, it will pull the rope and ring the siren,” said Sudarsono, adding that the siren would allow people to save themselves.
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Banjarnegara is particularly prone to landslides. In 2014, a hill collapsed in Karangkobar district and buried two villages, killing at least 83 people. Two years later, at least seven were killed in the village of Gumelem.
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