Nasib pengungsi: Selamat dari bencana, melarat di perbatasan Banten – Jawa Barat

“Mother Yati… Mother Yati… come out quickly! Run! Run!”

The urgent cries of a neighbor still echo in Yati’s ears even today, six years after the devastating landslide struck Kampung Cigobang, located in Banjarsari District, Lebak Regency, Banten Province. Yati vividly recalls how she and all the residents of Kampung Cigobang immediately fled into the forest as the catastrophe unfolded.

“With every step, the ground cracked,” she recounted. At the time, Yati was still breastfeeding her baby and had nothing else with her. “Carrying my baby, I brought nothing. Only the clothes on my back,” the now 50-year-old woman shared with Rangga Firmansyah, a journalist reporting for BBC News Indonesia. This disaster remains an indelible memory for Yati and her family, as it irrevocably altered their lives.

Migration to the Banten – West Java Border

Hoping to escape further calamity, Yati and other residents of Kampung Cigobang initially fled to Kampung Cileuksa, the nearest village. However, they soon discovered that Cileuksa had also been ravaged by a similar disaster. “So we were all forced to take refuge in the mosque in Cileuksa,” Yati explained. After spending three nights there, the displaced community learned of a relief post in Cipanas District, Lebak Regency, Banten Province.

Yati and the other refugees embarked on an arduous eight-hour walk to reach this new shelter. They stayed at the Cipanas relief post for six months before moving approximately 15 kilometers further to independently construct temporary dwellings, or huntara. What they did not realize at the time was that their new settlement lay precisely on the border between Lebak Regency in Banten Province and Bogor Regency in West Java Province. Cicih, another displaced resident from Kampung Cigobang, confirmed this realization. “When we moved here, it was still a forest. It turned out this was a different province,” Cicih noted.

Hardship in the Borderland

Life on the border began with immense struggle. The refugees had to venture deep into the forest to gather wood for building their temporary homes. Before these structures were complete, they slept in makeshift shelters fashioned from tarpaulins. “Back then, we had to go down to the river to get water. I had to go up and down while carrying my baby,” Cicih recalled, highlighting the daily challenges faced by women in the settlement. The burden on Cicih and other women in the border area extended beyond this; they walked two kilometers to the nearest shop to procure household necessities.

So, how did these displaced families earn money for their purchases? Eman and Raman exemplify the unwavering efforts made by these refugees to provide food for their wives and children. Eman, Cicih’s husband, started planting cassava and bananas behind their dwelling and also worked as a farm laborer on nearby plots. This method was soon adopted by other refugees. “We sometimes farm on other people’s land. Then the harvest is divided in half,” Eman explained while tending his small garden behind his home. “For money, we sometimes receive aid from volunteers and the government,” Cicih added. Raman chimed in, “The last government aid was around September 2025.”

A Heartbreaking Saga in Temporary Shelters

Beyond losing their ancestral land and homes, the refugees have endured profound personal tragedies. Yati, for instance, lost her second child, Endong, who passed away in 2022 while they were living in the temporary settlement. High fever claimed the young man’s life. “It was during the COVID era. We couldn’t take him to the hospital because there was no money for transport or treatment. At most, we could only give him over-the-counter medicine and ginger,” Yati tearfully recounted, suppressing her emotions as she remembered the event. “So, he convulsed for three days, and on the third day, he died.” Endong left behind an eight-year-old child. Today, Raman and Yati live with their three children and one grandchild.

Yati’s children and other refugee children in the border area have also been deprived of educational opportunities. Many were forced to drop out of school due to the prohibitive costs and long distances. Records show that 13 refugee children still attend school, traveling several kilometers daily, while eight children dropped out after the disaster or upon moving to the border. Additionally, ten children have been born in these temporary settlements. Infrastructure directly correlates with both education and overall well-being. On the Bogor Regency side of West Java Province, the road leading to the huntara is smoothly paved, allowing vegetable vendors and other suppliers easy access to the refugees. In contrast, the road on the Lebak Regency side of Banten Province remains unpaved, forcing refugee children to trek up and down hills through red earth to reach school.

Sharing the Burden of Refugee Care

Banten Governor Andra Soni stated that the dirt road in the temporary settlement area has not been paved because it falls within a protected forest area and the Gunung Halimun Salak National Park (TNGHS). “Road hardening is being carried out. Hardening is done because the area is part of a protected forest and National Park,” Andra Soni told reporters on January 13, as quoted by Kompas.com. However, officials from the TNGHS Agency refuted this claim. “Yesterday, the governor’s statement about it being a protected forest was incorrect, and it’s not TNGHS,” said Didid Sulastiyo, Head of the Gunung Halimun Salak National Park Agency. On-site, Aganto Seno, Head of the National Park Management Section for Lebak Region I, presented coordination points proving that the border land lies outside the TNGHS Agency’s zone. “If the road crossed the National Park, then we would sit together. But this isn’t the case because it doesn’t cross the National Park,” he told BBC News Indonesia reporter Rangga Firmansyah.

Regardless of the road development, the Banten Provincial Government must share the burden of managing the refugees in the border area with the Lebak Regency Government and the Central Government. This was explained by Banten Governor Andra Soni during a meeting at the Governor’s Hall. “The Banten Provincial DPRD and Lebak DPRD have coordinated. One outcome is the division of tasks as agreed upon. The Banten Provincial Government’s responsibility is road provision, which has seen hardening efforts initiated this year, with further extensions planned. The completion will follow once the housing is finished,” he elaborated. “Then the Lebak Regency will prepare the land, or what is called Readiness Criteria (R.C). The physical construction will be carried out by the Ministry of Housing and Settlement,” he concluded. Hearing this, Raman sighed deeply. He and the other refugees must once again remain patient, despite six years of living on the border. “Why are other countries’ people taken care of, but their own citizens are neglected? We feel invisible, even though we’re not that far from Jakarta,” Raman expressed with a weary, tearful tone.

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