Death toll in Irian drought climbs to 290

JAKARTA (JP): At least 19 more people have died as a result of the severe drought affecting Irian Jaya, raising the death toll to 290.

But humanitarian workers in the area claim that another five have died in the Kuyawage village, Jayawijaya regency, in the last three days.

Jayawijaya regent JB Wenas said in Wamena on Sunday that a further nine people have died in his regency -- five from Silimo village and four from Mbua village.

Antara news service reported yesterday that 21 people have now died in the Merauke regency. This tally is 10 higher than the 11 deaths reported Thursday in Merauke by Minister of Social Services Inten Suweno.

Inten had said that there were 271 drought-related deaths in the Irian Jaya regencies of Jayawijaya, Merauke and Puncak Jaya.

Most of the deaths have been attributed to diarrhea.

Separately, a field worker for World Vision Indonesia (WVI) -- a humanitarian non-governmental group working in Wamena, the capital of Jayawijaya regency -- confirmed the reported deaths of nine people after being contacted by The Jakarta Post.

The field worker, Sukoyo, said that in the last three days another five people had died in Kuyawage village.

Sukoyo, who had returned from a three-day visit to the Kuyawage village yesterday, said that 60 of the 300 villagers being treated by doctors in Kuyawage village were seriously ill.

"It's a heart-wrenching scene in Kuyawage," he said. "Most of the villagers are suffering from diarrhea, high body temperature and severe respiratory infections."

According to the aid worker, Kuyawage and its 8,500 residents have been the hardest hit by this year's drought.

Sukoyo said the Ministry of Health agency in Wamena had sent medicine to the stricken village, but added: "More medicine and food relief is still needed in Kuyawage and the other villages."

Food relief -- including three tons of rice, 100 boxes of instant noodles and 500 kilograms of salt donated by the WVI, had been successfully dispatched to Kuyawage.

An on-duty official in Irian Jaya's capital Jayapura, Arnold Wakum, said that he could only confirm 262 deaths from the Jayawijaya regency.

He could not verify the additional five deaths at Kuyawage.

"We haven't received any further information about the deaths (in Kuyawage) or from the other regencies (Merauke and Puncak Jaya)," Arnold, who is attached to the national management coordinating unit's command post, said.

To help relieve the situation in the area the government has airlifted food and medical supplies.

But thick haze caused by forest fires here have hampered relief operations to drop food, bottled water and medical supplies to remote hinterland villages.

Up to 80,000 hectares of forest have been razed by the fires in the last two months.

Also yesterday, the Jayawijaya administration appealed for the commencement of a cloud-seeding operation in the region to generate artificial rain.

Regency secretary Frans Robert Kristantus was quoted by Antara as saying that 445,000 people in the regency were facing food shortages and a lack of clean water.

He said 90 percent of the mountainous regency was dry. There are 28 districts and 274 villages in the Jayawijaya regency.(aan)