BMG warns of possible landslides, floods

The Jakarta Post Jakarta

The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) warned public 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 occur 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 which may occur until the end of this month. The end of February will be the peak of the rainy season," Gunawan told reporters.

Floods, rainstorms and landslides have claimed lives and inundated many parts of the country over the past week. At least 15 people were killed when a landslide buried their homes in Purworejo regency in Central Java last week.

Rainstorm also hit Jakarta and several cities along the north coast of Java sea last week.

Gunawan said the heavy rainfalls were a result of a collision of south winds from Australia and north winds from Asia continent which then created thick clouds above Indonesia.

The rains will reach an intensity of more than 100 millimeters per day, more than double the normal level.

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

Gunawan said the rains would start to decrease in March and a transitional season would take place between May and June before the dry season comes in July.

In East Nusa Tenggara, at least four people have been found death and five still missing following a flood in Reok district in Manggarai regency.

Local information office head Agustinus Ampur said on Friday the search and rescue team was still searching for the missing persons.

"The roads have been cut by the flood, making it impossible for us to deliver humanitarian aid. Telecommunication device has also paralyzed out there," Agustinus claimed.

He said two villages, Reo and Mata Air, in the district were severely damaged with almost all of the houses were engulfed by the floods which reached 2.5 meters high.

Learning activities in at least 27 schools in Gubub district in Grobogan regency, Central Java have been halted since Thursday as flood drowned the buildings.

Students and teachers from 21 elementary schools, three junior high schools, and three senior high schools were seen working together to save their school equipment.

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

Sugiyono expected the students to resume their study on Monday if the flood water subsided and the students could mend the damage.

Besides halting the learning activities, the floods also cut transportation infrastructure linking Grobogan and the provincial capital of Semarang, destroyed 15 dikes and swamped 290 hectares of paddy field.

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

"The regent had distributed 30 tarpaulins to the victims yesterday (Thursday). That's all the tarpaulins we could buy from every store in Karangasem," the regental administration's spokesperson I Made Suama said on Friday.

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

The villages of Bukit, Seraya Timur, Seraya Barat, Tegallinggah and Seraya Tengah were the hardest hit areas.

In East Java, three cabinet ministers visited on Friday three districts in Mojokerto regency, which have been drowned by flood since Wednesday.

During the visit, Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, Minister of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure Soenarno and Minister of Information and Communication Syamsul Mu'arif said the central government would take every measure to prevent flood in the future.