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)