Floods damage thousands of Irian Jaya phone lines
Floods damage thousands of Irian Jaya phone lines
SORONG, Irian Jaya (JP): Floods disrupted thousands of phone
lines in the town of Sorong while the local state-run telephone
company worked hard to fix the damage.
Repair work could take one month, a company official said.
Residents wanting to make phone calls last week found it
necessitated traveling by ship for almost 12 hours to Manokwari
town.
Only a few hundred telephone lines from the town's 8,250 lines
have been repaired, Cendrawasih Pos reported Monday.
Flooding from the overflowing Remu River which flows through
Sorong was caused by heavy rains since early April, inundating
homes and public facilities.
A resident, Oktovianus Kalame, 42, died in a landslide.
From Jayapura, Antara reported on Tuesday that about 200 homes
and offices in Entrop subdistrict of Jayapura were also under
water since rains on Monday night.
An employee of the local administration, Martinus Ayomi, said
congestion caused by flooded roads extended his traveling time to
work to 2.5 hours. The trip usually takes 30 minutes.
Separately, the agency also reported on Tuesday that thousands
of residents along Mamberamo River had contracted frambesia, an
infection of the skin mainly affecting teenagers and children.
Governor Freddy Numberi said the local council had agreed to
start a program to address the problem found in the regencies of
Jayapura, Yapen Waropen and Jayawijaya, which were relatively
difficult to reach.
From Manokwari, the agency also reported that the Japanese
Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund had extended assistance worth
some Rp 1.5 billion to support small-scale irrigation development
in Rado village in Wasior subdistrict.
"Funds have been channeled through the supporting
infrastructure development program in less-developed villages
(P3DT) for the 1999/2000 fiscal year," head of the local
Development Planning Board (Bappeda), Sergius Mabuay, said here
on Tuesday.
Through the program, each village in the region will receive a
some Rp 300 million, he said.
Sergius said he hoped that by developing small-scale
irrigation, it would be possible to irrigate the 100 hectares of
rice fields there. (34/anr)