Flores death toll rises as aid starts flowing in

Flores death toll rises as aid starts flowing in

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang, Jakarta

Rescuers found the bodies of at least 50 people in their fourth
day of searching for survivors since major landslides and floods
hit regencies on the island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara on
Monday.

"It's quite likely that the number of fatalities will rise,"
said Stanis Tefa, the secretary of East Nusa Tenggara disaster
and refugee post in the province's capital Kupang. "Local rescue
teams, the police and military personnel have had difficulties
finding the victims due to limited equipment."

He said the regency of Ende recorded the highest death toll
with 39 casualties, 29 of whom were residents of the Ndona
district. In the regency of East Flores 10 people died, all of
whom were residents of the Lahayong subdistrict. The Sikka
regency saw six people dead, and Ngada two people.

Outside Flores, in the East Nusa Tenggara capital Kupang one
person died. Stanis said another 12 residents were still missing.

Heavy rain over the past week led to landslides and floods,
submerging the districts of Larantuka, Lohayong and Posto in East
Flores.

The disaster caused extensive damage to hundreds of houses and
thousands of hectares of rice fields and plantations. Stanis said
hundreds of cattle were killed. Two bridges connecting the west
and east of Flores were also destroyed, he added. "We estimate
losses running into the billions of rupiah."

The disaster paralyzed Flores land transportation, said Djami
Rebo, the head of the province's housing and infrastructure
office.

"It's worst in Ende and East Flores, because there the water
distribution network and the electricity network are severely
damaged," he said.

Head of the local Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG),
Hendri Subakti warned of worse storms in the coming days.

"The wind speed in the region of NTT (East Nusa Tenggara)
could reach between 50 knots to 70 knots per hour and ocean waves
could rise by more than two meters in the Sabu sea, the Timor sea
and the Indian Ocean south of Sumba island," Hendri said.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla said he
would visit Flores this Saturday. He said the government had sent
a team from the National Disaster Management Coordination Board
(Bakornas) to help the victims.

Financial aid has already been disbursed for the hundreds of
homeless victims to purchase food and other basic supplies, he
said.

"The central government through Bakornas, in cooperation with
the East Nusa Tenggara administration has removed the victims
from the location," Jusuf added as quoted by Antara.