Floods hit densely populated Java<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Floods continued to sweep through densely populated areas of Java
\non Friday, with the worst-hit of the rice belt regencies in West
\nJava, disrupting public transportation and the supply of basic
\ncommodities to the provinces.<\/p>\n
Hunger and diseases such as diarrhea, skin irritations and
\nlung infections have begun to hit thousands of people taking
\nrefuge from the flooding in makeshift tents. With floodwaters
\ndisrupting transportation, it could be some time before relief
\naid can reach these people.<\/p>\n
Many evacuees in Indramayu slammed the government for not
\ndoing enough to help them.<\/p>\n
"What is the government doing? No officials from the local
\nadministration or the central government have come to check on
\nour situation? Are they busy with the upcoming general election?<\/p>\n
"We are in dire need of food, tents, blankets, medicine. Many
\npeople are running short on food after evacuating their houses
\ntwo weeks ago, and many others, especially children, are
\nsuffering diarrhea, skin irritations and lung infections because
\nof a shortage of clean water," Andad, 52, a resident of
\nKaranganyar village in Kandanghaur subdistrict, told The Jakarta
\nPost on Friday.<\/p>\n
Most of the evacuees have set up their tents along the North
\nCoast Highway and are stopping passing motorists to beg for the
\nmoney that will allow them to buy food for their families.<\/p>\n
"The floods have given us an unexpected blessing. I can earn
\nRp 60,000 (US$7) a day, enough money to cover my family's needs
\nfor two days," said Tarminem, a 42-year-old mother of two.<\/p>\n
Floodwaters in Indramayu are between 30 centimeters and 1.5
\nmeters in depth, submerging thousands of houses, places of
\nworship and schools, which have been forced to close since
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
Many people forced to leave their homes in remote areas in
\nKerawang and Subang have traveled to Cirebon and Jakarta to seek
\nwork.<\/p>\n
Traffic along the North Coast Highway has been disrupted
\nbecause several sections of road are under up to a meter of
\nwater, slowing the supply of basic commodities from Jakarta to
\nCentral and East Java. This situation could worsen if the rain
\ncontinues over the next several days.<\/p>\n
The incessant rain that has fallen on the regencies of
\nKrawang, Indramayu and Subang in West Java since Tuesday has
\nsubmerged 57,000 hectares of paddy and disrupted transportation
\nnetworks across the large area.<\/p>\n
The head of the West Java agriculture office, Daddy Mulyadi,
\nsaid the floods, which were worse than last year, could cause
\nharvest failures, threatening the supply of rice to Java, home to
\nalmost 60 percent of the country's 230 million people.<\/p>\n
"The government has underestimated this year's rainy season
\nand we predict that the impact of the flooding will be very
\nwide," he said, adding that the provincial government was
\ndistributing aid to flood victims in the province.<\/p>\n
He said the province had lost about 11,000 tons of unhusked
\nrice in the 2003 drought and could suffer similar losses if there
\nwere harvest failures over the next two months because of the
\nfloods.<\/p>\n
Indramayu Regent Irianto said after touring flood-hit villages
\nin the regency that the central government should help local
\nadministrations in the province build more dams to prevent
\ndroughts during the dry season and floods in the rainy season.<\/p>\n
The regent handed out packages of basic commodities, medicines
\nand tents to thousands of evacuees on Friday.<\/p>\n
The heavy rains have also affected thousands of villages along
\nthe coast in parts of West and East Java. Landslides have claimed
\nat least 27 lives in the Central Java regencies of Banyumas,
\nKebumen and Cilacap since last December.<\/p>\n
Central Java has established emergency medical teams in
\nanticipation of possible disasters triggered by incessant rain in
\nthe province this week.<\/p>\n
Thousands of residents of Tangerang and Serang in Banten
\nprovince have been forced out of their homes by flooding, and
\nland transportation between Java and Sumatra has been disturbed
\nwith numerous sections of the 120-kilometer Jakarta-Merak toll
\nroad under water.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/floods-hit-densely-populated-java-1447893297",
"image": ""
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