Drought continues in E. Nusa Tenggara
Drought continues in E. Nusa Tenggara
Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang
Citizens of Kupang regency, on the western half of Timor, are facing a serious water shortage and hundreds of hectares of crops are under threat of destruction due to the prolonged severe drought in the regency.
The first week of this month has been particularly difficult for those living in remote areas in the regency, some of whom have had to walk great distances in search of clean water.
Telsi Viktoria, a housewife in Tunbaun village, Amarasi district, said that she has to walk 15 kilometers everyday to get to drinking water sources in coastal areas.
"All of the water sources in this village are completely dry, villagers have to walk 15 kilometers to find water," she told The Jakarta Post here on Thursday.
Viktoria also said she might suffer millions of rupiah in losses if the rice she is currently growing is destroyed by the prolonged drought.
In the districts of Amarasi and West Kupang, food and secondary crops over vast areas are beginning to dry up, potentially creating a massive food shortage in the near future.
"Because our livelihood depends on the sale of our crops, this drought has effectively slashed our income already," said Victoria.
Mathius Bulu Mila, a farmer in Oetmatnunu, West Kupang, concurred and said the severe drought has damaged many types of crops in the village.
Yopie Latie, a resident of Oetete subdistrict, said most people living on the city's outskirts have to buy drinking water because all the wells in their village have dried up.
"Privately-owned water trucks come to the village to supply clean water everyday and the people here have no alternative but to buy water from the private businessmen," he said, citing each container of water costs Rp 20,000.
Meanwhile, Piet Djami Rebo, chief of the provincial settlement and infrastructure office, said his office was surveying several water sources to make several large wells to help supply water to some of the worst-hit subdistricts.
Deputy regent Frids Djubida said the local administration was planning to build 20 water reservoirs in the regency, particularly in agricultural areas.