BMG warns of more disasters

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) issued a public warning on Friday of more landslides and floods due to rainstorms that would fall until the end of this month, especially in the southern and eastern parts of the country.

BMG head Gunawan Ibrahim predicted heavy rains would fall in the provinces of Riau, Bangka-Belitung, South Sumatra, Central Java, East Java, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, South East Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua.

"We have warned authorities in the provinces about the heavy rains and possible landslides and floods that may continue until the end of this month. The end of February will be the peak of the rainy season," Gunawan said.

Floods, rainstorms and landslides have claimed dozens of lives and inundated many parts of the country over the past week.

At least 15 people were killed when a landslide buried their homes last week in Purworejo regency, Central Java.

Severe storms also hit Jakarta and several cities along the northern coast of Java last week.

Gunawan said the heavy rains were caused by a collision of southerly winds from Australia and northerly winds from the Asian continent, which created dense clouds over Indonesia.

The agency predicts that rainfall will reach a depth of more than 100 millimeters per day, more than double the norm.

"Due to the very heavy rains, landslides may occur in many unstable hilly areas, while floods could sweep through lower areas in the regions," he said.

Gunawan said rainfall would start to decline in March and a transitional season would last from May to June before the dry season arrives in July.

In East Nusa Tenggara, at least four people died and five remained missing following a flood in Reok district, Manggarai regency.

Local information office head Agustinus Ampur said on Friday that the search and rescue team were continuing their search for the missing persons.

"The roads have been cut by the flood, making it impossible for us to deliver humanitarian aid. The telecommunication system has also been cut out there," he said.

The villages of Reo and Mata Air in the same district were severely damaged, with almost all houses engulfed by the floodwaters that reached 2.5 meters deep.

At least 27 schools in Gubub district, Grobogan regency, Central Java, have been suspended since Thursday as floods washed through the buildings.

Students and teachers from 21 elementary schools, three junior high schools and three senior high schools have combined forces to save school supplies and equipment.

"Many of our supplies were damaged by the flood, including our books. We can't count our losses," local education agency head Sugiyono said.

Sugiyono expected the students to resume their studies on Monday, if floodwaters had subsided and the damage could be repaired.

The flood has also cut roads linking Grobogan and the provincial capital of Semarang, destroyed 15 dikes and swamped 290 hectares of paddy fields.

Lack of tarpaulins and other emergency materials to erect makeshift tents have forced hundreds of people from five villages in Karangasem regency, some 70 kilometers east of Denpasar, Bali, to take shelter in the homes of relatives and neighbors after their homes were blown down by a windstorm earlier this week.

"The regent distributed 30 tarpaulins to the victims yesterday -- all the tarpaulins we could buy from every store in Karangasem," administration spokesperson I Made Suama said on Friday.

The windstorm that sporadically hit four regencies in Bali has damaged at least 2,135 houses, of which 268 were completely destroyed. The disaster also ruined 12 schools.

The villages of Bukit, Seraya Timur, Seraya Barat, Tegallinggah and Seraya Tengah were hardest hit by the gale-force winds.

In East Java, three cabinet ministers visited on Friday three districts in Mojokerto regency that have been flooded out since Wednesday.

During their visit, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, Minister of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure Soenarno and State Minister of Communications and Information Syamsul Mu'arif said the government would take every measure to prevent floods in the future.