Eighteen people still missing after tidal waves<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Rescue workers yesterday were searching for 18
\npeople who have remained missing since last Friday's tidal waves
\nthat have already left 201 dead and wrought uncounted destruction
\nin East Java.<\/p>\n
The calamity, triggered by a powerful earth quake in the
\nIndian Ocean, befalling four regencies along the southeast coast
\nof Java drew waves of sympathy from home and abroad.<\/p>\n
Chinese President Jiang Zemin was the first head of state to
\nsend a consolatory telegram to President Soeharto, which also
\nleft untold damage to public facilities.<\/p>\n
Jiang said he and all the Chinese people were shocked to learn
\nthe number of casualties and the scale of damage that the tidal
\nwaves wrought to the areas, according to a statement by the
\nChinese embassy in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The East Java Red Cross has supplied 2.5 tons of rice, 10
\nboxes of noodles, Rp 500,000 (US$232) in cash and second hand
\nclothes, Antara reported.<\/p>\n
Survivors are badly in need of food, clothing and medicine.
\nMany of them have moved to safer ground with few belongings since
\nmost lost everything when the waves struck their homes as they
\nslept on Friday.<\/p>\n
The provincial government has sent in Rp 10 million in cash
\nand the navy 1.5 tons of rice. Relief aid was also streaming in
\nfrom various provinces.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, Minister of Social Services Inten Soeweno's call
\nfor businessmen to spare their money for the victims was answered
\nby timber tycoon Bob Hasan, who immediately wrote a check of Rp 1
\nbillion.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the Indonesian Forest Society, warned non-
\ngovernmental organizations against making an issue of
\nrehabilitation activities in the affected areas for their
\nbenefits.<\/p>\n
Drastic course<\/p>\n
In the worst hit Banyuwangi regency, local government
\nspokesman Mas'ud Imra said that 1,189 people were injured, many
\nseriously. They are now being treated at local health centers.<\/p>\n
The government however refrained from decreeing a national
\ndisaster in the same way it avoided taking such a course in the
\nlast two major natural disasters in the country over the past two
\nyears.<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Azwar Anas, who
\nvisited the stricken area on Sunday, said there was no need to
\ntake such a drastic course.<\/p>\n
\"It's a major disaster but we don't see any reason to declare
\nit a national disaster,\" Azwar said in Surabaya upon his return
\nfrom Banyuwangi.<\/p>\n
An earthquake in Lampung, last February killed 200 people and
\ndestroyed substantial public facilities, such as roads, bridges
\nand irrigation systems.<\/p>\n
Tidal waves that swept Flores Island in East Nusa Tenggara in
\nDecember 1992 killed over 2,000 people.<\/p>\n
In both cases, the government resisted public pressures to
\ndeclare a national disaster, a move which its proponents argued
\nwould have facilitated government aid and relief operations.<\/p>\n
The tidal wave that struck Banyuwangi for about five minutes
\nhad destroyed most fishing facilities and practically paralyzed
\neconomic activities along the shore lines.<\/p>\n
As the victims were counting their losses, officials in
\nBanyuwangi asked them to consider moving to an outer island under
\nthe state-sponsored transmigration program.<\/p>\n
\"The opportunity is wide open,\" said MP Widiyono who heads the
\nlocal office of transmigration.<\/p>\n
In Tulungagung, where the tidal waves caused relatively small
\nlosses in property, victims were reported to have begun
\nrebuilding yesterday.<\/p>\n
Tulungagung regency spokesman Bangun Harmanto put the total
\nloss in the area at Rp 104 million.(pan)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/eighteen-people-still-missing-after-tidal-waves-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}