Floods, Landslides Kill 114 In Indonesia - Death Toll Climbing - Reuters

SINJAI, Indonesia - Landslides and floods on Indonesia's eastern Sulawesi island have killed 114 people and the toll could rise further, officials said on Wednesday.

A search-and-rescue operation was underway after two days of heavy rain in several parts of South Sulawesi province. Sinjai regency was the worst-hit area after flooding early on Tuesday, rescuers and police said. "Excavations for those who were buried are still in progress," a Reuters witness in Sinjai said, adding that the military, police, and search and rescue teams had reached the area.

Many people were feared buried under mud in areas rescuers could only reach by foot, said Saktianto, a search-and-rescue official in Makassar, South Sulawesi's capital about 1,400 km (870 miles) east of Jakarta.

"The flash flood has receded, leaving mud and damaged houses. Many houses were severely damaged and have become ruins," the Reuters witness said.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/36955/story.htm

"Torrential rains and landslides are regular features of tropical Indonesia. Rampant deforestation often adds to the ease with which hillsides are saturated and collapse, environmentalists say."

...but I'll have good money that the vast majority of those 114 weren't loggers. Just people in the wrong place.

We're going to see a lot of that.

The "self-inflicted" term was directed at the country as a whole, not the particular people who were killed or lost their homes.

And it'be going to get worse. The U.S. and other industrialized countries want forest goods; poor countries (or at least their govt/corporate interests) want to sell them, regardless of the price paid by the local population.

Population growth at both ends makes this a lose-lose scenario.

Until we control our population growth, or it's controlled for us by outside factors such as disease, conservation will ultimately lose out to commercial demands.