Food aid rushed to Papua's remote regency

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Wamena

Food aid and medical supplies continued to arrive in Papua's remote Yahukimo regency on Monday where at least 55 residents have reportedly died in a famine, despite a denial by the health minister of any malnutrition problems in the regency.

At the coordination post at the airport in Wamena, the closest large city to the regency, rice, instant noodles, medical supplies, blankets and cash continued to arrive on Monday from donors across the country, including First Lady Kristiani Herawati.

More aid was piled in a military and police warehouse in Wamena, waiting to be distributed to nine of the most badly affected areas in Yahukimo regency, some 800 kilometers from the Papua capital Jayapura.

"Today (Monday), we were planning to deliver food aid to three areas but bad weather forced the Army helicopter to turn around and return to Wamena," said the commander of the Jayawijaya military district command, Lt. Col. Sarjono.

The famine in the geographically isolated regency first came to the nation's attention when Yahukimo Regent Ones Pahabol alerted local and national media that 55 people had died and 112 others had fallen critically ill since November due to starvation, which he blamed on harvest failure. The regent based his figures on reports he received from local churches.

According to data from the coordination post in Wamena, 49 residents of eight villages in the regency -- Soba, Lolat, Koropun, Sela, Duram, Dagi, Nalca and Wam -- have died of various illnesses since November, while another 104 people had fallen seriously ill. However, the coordination post did not specify whether the deaths were caused by starvation.

Bernard Yaahole, head of the local government's representative office in the Holuwun area of Yahukimo regency, said residents were surviving on one meal a day, leaving them vulnerable to diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis.

On Sunday, Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari said a team from the ministry had found no cases of starvation in the regency. Speaking in East Java, she said there were a number of ill people in the regency but they were not suffering from malnutrition.

According to Ev Menas Mirin, chairman of the Yalenang People's Empowerment Foundation, which has worked for the last five years with people in the regency, the deaths and illnesses in Yahukimo could have been prevented because the first signs of an impending famine emerged as far back as August.

He said it was already evident in August that the crops of sweet potato, which is a staple food in the regency, had been destroyed by heavy rains the previous months.

"The residents planted their crops late and when the rains came before the harvest the crops were destroyed," Menas said.

"Most residents are now surviving on leaves and fruits they gather from the forest," he said.

Meanwhile, Regent Ones Pahabol reiterated on Monday that the people of the regency were in desperate need of assistance. He also expressed gratitude for the donations that had already begun to arrive in the regency.