More storm likely within a few days<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Surabaya\/Kupang<\/p>\n
A senior government official warned on Thursday that residents in
\nthe southern and eastern regions of Indonesia had to remain
\nvigilant, as severe storms, which have been pounding three
\nwestern provinces in the country recently, would expand to other
\nareas.<\/p>\n
Those areas in question are the Arafura Sea, Maluku, South
\nSulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara provinces.<\/p>\n
"The storms will hit these areas within one or two days. Sea
\nand air transportation companies have to be on high alert,"
\nAchmad Zakir, the head of Weather Forecast and Meteorology
\nService at the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG), told The
\nJakarta Post by phone.<\/p>\n
Achmad was commenting on the storms that hit East Java,
\nCentral Java and West Nusa Tenggara provinces on Tuesday and
\nWednesday, which killed at least two and damaged hundreds of
\nhouses in the affected areas.<\/p>\n
Heavy storms also struck the East Nusa Tenggara regency of
\nManggarai on Flores Island. Two were killed and six others have
\nbeen reported missing.<\/p>\n
At least 11 houses were completely swept away, while hundreds
\nof others were inundated and 20 others were severely damaged.
\nMany parts of Manggarai were inundated by floodwaters up to 2.5
\nmeters high.<\/p>\n
Agustinus Ampur, the head of Information and Communication
\nAgency at the Manggarai regency government, said on Thursday that
\nthe six people were missing.<\/p>\n
The floods also cut all roads connecting to Ruteng, the
\ncapital of Manggarai regency. "We will fix the problem
\nimmediately, and the regent himself has put it as our main
\npriority in the aftermath of the floods," he said.<\/p>\n
In East Java, the area which was hit hard by the storms, some
\nof the floodwaters had begun to subside on Thursday.<\/p>\n
As the water has subsided in many areas, residents in Malang,
\nPasuruan, Mojokerto and Batu began to clean up and repair their
\ndamaged homes.<\/p>\n
In Mojokerto, traffic has reported running normally, unlike
\nthe first part of the week when most of roads here were under
\nwater.<\/p>\n
Most of the refugees from Suko district here, who had been
\ncamping out in front of the office of the Mojokerto regency
\nadministration since Wednesday, had already returned home.<\/p>\n
In order to help ease the burden of the victims of the floods,
\nEast Java provincial government has prepared Rp 70 billion in
\ncontingency funds.<\/p>\n
"The funds will be used to provide food for the victims and
\nrepair the damaged roads and bridges," said East Java Governor
\nImam Utomo.<\/p>\n
The massive damage in East Java has also attracted attention
\nfrom the central government. Jusuf Kalla, the Coordinating
\nMinister for People's Welfare and also a presidential hopeful
\nfrom the Golkar Party, is scheduled to visit East Java this
\nFriday.<\/p>\n
Separately, a non-governmental organization (NGO) activist
\nfrom Care for the Environment, Syarifuddin Ngulma, lashed out at
\nthe government, saying that the natural disaster was caused by
\nthe failure of the government to protect the environment,
\nincluding its failure to prevent illegal logging.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/more-storm-likely-within-a-few-days-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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