Death toll reaches 31 in Nias calamity, 150 missing

Death toll reaches 31 in Nias calamity, 150 missing

MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): The death toll in the Nias flood
disaster has reached 31, with 11 seriously injured and more than
150 still reported missing, reports from the Nias Disaster Task
Force said on Thursday evening.

A.A. Gulo, the coordinator of the disaster center told The
Jakarta Post that 101 people and 31 families were still missing.
If a family consists of two people, then the total amount of
people missing would be more than 160, he said.

According to its reports, 99 of the total missing are
residents of Lahusa district, while two are from Lolomatua
district and 31 families are from Telukdalam.

As many as 750 of the 789 who were reported missing on the
first day of the disaster have been found alive, revising the
total to 39 missing. Thirty-nine survivors are being sheltered at
an elementary school in Lahusa district.

Reports also said that at least 145 homes had been swept away
by the floods, which hit the districts on Tuesday.

One church and one school were destroyed in the flood.

Gulo said that they were continuing efforts to search for
flood victims. "The search and rescue team members started today
to comb the mountain slopes, due to the good weather," he said on
Thursday.

Firman, a staff member at the Meteorology and Geophysics
Agency in Medan, said that Nias would remain cloudy with strong
winds in the coming days.

He said that possible disasters could take place again in Nias
in the near future. "Nias is vulnerable to floods and storms."

Besides bad weather, the destruction of local forests was also
cited as a factor causing the floods.

Firman said that the mountain slopes in Lolomatua district
were bare and that the three districts devastated by the floods,
Lahusa, Telukdalam and Lolomatua, were located at the foot of
Lolomatua mountain, which is 3,000 meters above sea level.

Meanwhile, aid poured in for flood victims.

North Sumatra Governor T. Rizal Nurdin, who was in Nias on
Thursday, donated Rp 200 million and five tons of rice, while the
Ministry of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure allotted Rp 1
billion for the repair of roads and bridges.

North Sumatra provincial spokesman Eddy Sofyan said those who
wished to make a donation could contact the aid center in Nias
regency at (0639) 21535 or transfer funds directly to BNI 46
account No. 032-000219162-001 on behalf of FA Harefa, the head of
the Nias regency treasury.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people whose houses were destroyed in
Tuesday's landslide in Mata Air village in the Padang Selatan
district, Padang, West Sumatra, have not received any aid at the
temporary shelters.

"We have received no food or medicine since we arrived here on
Tuesday," said Nasril, one of the displaced villagers at a
temporary shelter.

Reports said 170 people were being sheltered in Air Mata Barat
village, 12 in Teluk Bayu, 50 in Bartang Arau, 150 in Seberang
Palinggam, 98 in Batang Gadih, 48 in Seberang Padang and 68 in an
area close to Lantiak Hill. (42/28/sur)