Flood victims face possible starvation
Agus Maryono and Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Kebumen/Purwokerto
More than 20,000 of the 30,000 victims of flooding in the regencies of Kebumen, Cilacap and Banyumas in the southern part of Central Java are facing possible starvation and drug shortages due to the dwindling supplies of food and drugs.
Refugees being housed in temporary shelters, mosques and school buildings in safe areas in the regencies say they have nothing to help them through the disaster and that they are totally dependent on the local government for humanitarian aid.
"Our belongings were swept away by the flood and we have nothing to eat for tomorrow as the food supply has become less and less," Katinem, a flood victim in Banyumas, told The Jakarta Post in Banyumas on Saturday.
Gatot Arif, spokesman for the Cilacap administration, said that tens of thousands of refugees in the regency were running short of basic commodities and a small number of them were suffering skin diseases because of the absence of clean water at their temporary shelters.
"The refugees are generally in good health, but following the week-long flood, a larger number of refugees are facing shortages of basic commodities such as food, drugs, blankets and soap," he said, denying that a diarrhea outbreak had hit the region.
He added that the floodwater, which reached a depth of 0.5 meters, had inundated 73 villages in 14 of 23 subdistricts, causing Rp 4 billion in material losses to local people.
In Banyumas, Regent Aris Setiono said more than 2,300 houses and tens of thousands of hectares of paddy fields in 18 villages had been inundated.
"More than 1,200 villages are taking refuge in temporary shelters built by the local administration in cooperation with local non-governmental organizations. So far, it has been assessed that the flood has caused more than Rp 2 billion in material losses," he said when accompanying Central Java Governor Mardiyanto on a visit to flood victims in the regency on Saturday.
In Kebumen, 125 residents of the worst-hit Madureja village, which local administration personnel have yet to reach, are not only short of food and drugs but have to endure the stench of dead cattle that drowned in the flood.
The village head, Marsudi Pamudja Widayat, said villagers had built shelters over dikes along the great river Telomoyo because they had no transportation facilities to reach safe areas.
"The government should supply food and drugs to the villagers until the floodwater subsides," he said.
Kebumen Regent Rustriningsih appealed to affluent people to give humanitarian aid to help the tens of thousands of flood victims who are taking refuge at temporary shelters in safe areas in the regency.
"Refugees are in urgent need of food and drugs as the food stock provided by the local administration is almost finished," she said.