A landslide struck a community gold mining area in Tulabolo Timur village, Suwawa Timur district, Bone Bolango regency, Gorontalo, after a period of high rainfall. The search team recorded the event on Saturday, 6 July 2024 at around 23.45 WITA. When the search operation closed on 13 July, the total number of people affected stood at 325: 26 dead, 280 survivors, some of them injured, and 19 declared missing (Metrotvnews.com, 2024). A report two days later put the death toll at 27 and said the regency government had temporarily closed the unlicensed mining activity (Detik.com, 2024), so the casualty figures should be read as provisional.
This case study draws on official statements and news reports. No official investigation report is available, victims are not named, and we do not guess at the technical cause.
What Happened
A press release from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources placed the landslide on Sunday morning, 7 July 2024. By 18.00 WITA on Monday, 8 July, the regency disaster agency's data showed 10 dead, 43 still being searched for, 19 injured and 23 rescued. The search was paused because of heavy rain, the landslide disrupted communications, and only the southern route could be used to bring in supplies and heavy equipment. The ministry's disaster standby team, together with the emergency team of a contract of work holder in the area, sent five rescuers, one paramedic, one heavy equipment operator and an excavator (Kementerian Energi dan Sumber Daya Mineral [KESDM], 2024).
The search operation closed after seven days in line with procedure. The head of the local search and rescue office said it could reopen if there was firm information on victims' whereabouts, and that one reason for closing was unclear information from families about relatives who had been buried (Metrotvnews.com, 2024). The differences in timing and casualty numbers between sources show how hard it is to account for people at an informal worksite.
Reported Factors
The factor named so far by officials and the press is high rainfall (Metrotvnews.com, 2024; KESDM, 2024). Research gives wider context. An analysis of 4,862 fatal landslides worldwide from 2004 to 2016 recorded about 56,000 deaths, with Asia the dominant region, and showed that landslides triggered by human activity are increasing, particularly in relation to construction, illegal mining and hill-cutting (Froude & Petley, 2018). In a survey of artisanal and small-scale mining experts, 50 percent placed rock falls and pit collapses among the top three risks, and illegal mining was said to make health and safety rules difficult or irrelevant to enforce (Smith et al., 2016).
Hierarchy of Controls View
We use the hierarchy of controls as a reading tool, not to infer a cause. At a formal worksite, cut slopes are designed and monitored, work below slopes is restricted during rain, and everyone who enters is recorded. At an unlicensed community mine, in our view almost all of these layers are missing: there is no slope design as an engineering control, no rule to stop work in rain as an administrative control, and a helmet or other PPE is powerless against a mass of sliding earth. The finding by Smith et al. (2016) that rules are hard to enforce where mining is illegal explains why these layers do not appear on their own.
The second lesson concerns accounting for people. Hundreds of people were on site, yet the search was hampered by uncertainty over who had been buried (Metrotvnews.com, 2024). Without a list of who is on site, a search team cannot tell when the search is complete. The third lesson comes from the response side: a formal mining company nearby contributed rescuers, a paramedic and heavy equipment (KESDM, 2024), which shows that a company's emergency capability also has value for the surrounding community.
The limits of this analysis are plain. We do not know the slope geometry, rock type, position of the pits or the number of people present at the time, and all of these can only be assessed in an official investigation.
Lessons for Sloped Sites
These lessons apply to licensed mines, quarries, projects with cut slopes and facilities at the foot of hills:
- Set criteria to stop work and evacuate during heavy rain or when cracks, seepage or small slips appear, and give field supervisors the authority to stop the job.
- Inspect slopes routinely, especially after rain, and record visible changes.
- Run a site entry and exit system, such as tags or a personnel count board, so the number of people on site is always known.
- Prepare evacuation routes, assembly points and backup communications, because landslides can cut roads and signals (KESDM, 2024).
- Train the emergency response team and build coordination with the regional disaster agency and search and rescue office before anything happens.
How Nusa Safety Helps
Nusa Safety helps companies identify slope and weather hazards early through a HAZID study and the risk assessment and JSA workshop. Readiness for a landslide, including personnel accounting and assembly points, can be tested through emergency preparedness drills with the Nusa Safety team.
This article is general information and not legal or professional advice for any specific case.
References
- Detik.com. (2024, July 15). Tambang emas Gorontalo ditutup sementara imbas longsor tewaskan 27 orang [Gorontalo gold mine temporarily closed after landslide kills 27]. detikSulsel. https://www.detik.com/sulsel/berita/d-7439586/tambang-emas-gorontalo-ditutup-sementara-imbas-longsor-tewaskan-27-orang
- Froude, M. J., & Petley, D. N. (2018). Global fatal landslide occurrence from 2004 to 2016. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 18(8), 2161-2181. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-2161-2018
- Kementerian Energi dan Sumber Daya Mineral. (2024, July 9). ESDM kerahkan tim siaga bencana bantu penanganan tanah longsor di Bone Bolango, Gorontalo [Energy ministry deploys disaster standby team to help handle the Bone Bolango landslide] (Press Release No. 364.Pers/04/SJI/2024). https://www.esdm.go.id/id/media-center/arsip-berita/esdm-kerahkan-tim-siaga-bencana-bantu-penanganan-tanah-longsor-di-bone-bolango-gorontalo
- Metrotvnews.com. (2024, July 14). Operasi pencarian korban longsor tambang di Gorontalo ditutup, 15 orang masih hilang [Search for Gorontalo mine landslide victims closed, 15 still missing]. https://www.metrotvnews.com/read/KdZCWgjm-operasi-pencarian-korban-longsor-tambang-di-gorontalo-ditutup-15-orang-masih-hilang
- Smith, N. M., Ali, S., Bofinger, C., & Collins, N. (2016). Human health and safety in artisanal and small-scale mining: An integrated approach to risk mitigation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 129, 43-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.04.124
