Almost 50,000 face famine in E. Nusa Tenggara

JAKARTA (JP): At least 49,817 villagers living in several clusters of remote villages in East Nusa Tenggara are reportedly facing food shortages, a legacy of last year's prolonged drought.

Forty-seven villages scattered across the regencies of Manggarai, Sumba Barat, Kupang, Kupang mayoralty, Alor, Ngada, Sumba Timur and Flores Timur have been affected over the past six months, Antara news agency reported Tuesday.

The local government-run Starvation Command Post in the provincial capital Kupang feared the number could be greater as the preliminary estimate was based only on reports filed by several villages.

"The possibility is that it could be higher," Jhony Ataupah said.

Villagers' diets have been reduced to potentially poisonous wild forest yams and mango seeds in the past six months "just for survival", Ataupah said.

Contacted for further confirmation yesterday, spokesman for the local office of the Ministry of Social Services Bambang Subroto said "that's the government's figure" on the estimated number.

Hendro Suwito of the humanitarian non-governmental organization World Vision Indonesia (WVI) in Jakarta also said yesterday the number was "not surprising" as last year's crop harvests were badly affected by drought that hit the province and depleted the people's food supply.

The WVI earlier this month channeled A$100 million in assistance from the Australian Agency for International Aid to Sumba Timur regency, Hendro said

"The relief program has been given on the food-and-cash-for- work basis," Hendro told The Jakarta Post of the outreach to 11,000 villagers in the regency's Haharu, Pandawai and Pahunga Lodu subdistricts.

On Tuesday, Antara reported villagers of Lewo Tolok in Ile Ape subdistrict of the Flores Timur regency were worst-hit as the prolonged drought had made it hard for them to get fresh water and food.

It said villagers were forced to sail for three hours to the closest island to find fresh water.

Last year's El Nino weather phenomenon exacerbated effects of the dry season, causing an extended drought that hit several parts of the country, sparked forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan and led to food shortages in Irian Jaya.

About 700 people reported died of famine and drought-related diseases in Irian Jaya last year. (aan)