Food aid rushed to Papua's remote regency<\/p>\n
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Wamena<\/p>\n
Food aid and medical supplies continued to arrive in Papua's
\nremote Yahukimo regency on Monday where at least 55 residents
\nhave reportedly died in a famine, despite a denial by the health
\nminister of any malnutrition problems in the regency.<\/p>\n
At the coordination post at the airport in Wamena, the closest
\nlarge city to the regency, rice, instant noodles, medical
\nsupplies, blankets and cash continued to arrive on Monday from
\ndonors across the country, including First Lady Kristiani
\nHerawati.<\/p>\n
More aid was piled in a military and police warehouse
\nin Wamena, waiting to be distributed to nine of the most badly
\naffected areas in Yahukimo regency, some 800 kilometers from the
\nPapua capital Jayapura.<\/p>\n
\"Today (Monday), we were planning to deliver food aid to three
\nareas but bad weather forced the Army helicopter to turn around
\nand return to Wamena,\" said the commander of the Jayawijaya
\nmilitary district command, Lt. Col. Sarjono.<\/p>\n
The famine in the geographically isolated regency first came
\nto the nation's attention when Yahukimo Regent Ones Pahabol
\nalerted local and national media that 55 people had died and 112
\nothers had fallen critically ill since November due to
\nstarvation, which he blamed on harvest failure. The regent based
\nhis figures on reports he received from local churches.<\/p>\n
According to data from the coordination post in Wamena, 49
\nresidents of eight villages in the regency -- Soba, Lolat,
\nKoropun, Sela, Duram, Dagi, Nalca and Wam -- have died of various
\nillnesses since November, while another 104 people had fallen
\nseriously ill. However, the coordination post did not specify
\nwhether the deaths were caused by starvation.<\/p>\n
Bernard Yaahole, head of the local government's representative
\noffice in the Holuwun area of Yahukimo regency, said residents
\nwere surviving on one meal a day, leaving them vulnerable to
\ndiseases such as malaria and tuberculosis.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari said a team
\nfrom the ministry had found no cases of starvation in the
\nregency. Speaking in East Java, she said there were a number of
\nill people in the regency but they were not suffering from
\nmalnutrition.<\/p>\n
According to Ev Menas Mirin, chairman of the Yalenang People's
\nEmpowerment Foundation, which has worked for the last five years
\nwith people in the regency, the deaths and illnesses in Yahukimo
\ncould have been prevented because the first signs of an impending
\nfamine emerged as far back as August.<\/p>\n
He said it was already evident in August that the crops of
\nsweet potato, which is a staple food in the regency, had been
\ndestroyed by heavy rains the previous months.<\/p>\n
\"The residents planted their crops late and when the rains
\ncame before the harvest the crops were destroyed,\" Menas said.<\/p>\n
\"Most residents are now surviving on leaves and fruits they
\ngather from the forest,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Regent Ones Pahabol reiterated on Monday that the
\npeople of the regency were in desperate need of assistance. He
\nalso expressed gratitude for the donations that had already begun
\nto arrive in the regency.<\/p>",
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